1996 European Cup semi-finals, England vs. Germany, Southgate missed a penalty shootout, making Germany successfully enter the final and finally win the championship. It is not shameful to miss a penalty kick, but under the turmoil of the crowd, he will naturally not let him go from criticism from the media to the fans. Southgate became an eternal sinner whom thousands of people were referring to overnight. After retiring, Southgate's coaching career has no highlights. He was relegated when coaching Middlesbrough in 2008 and resigned after failing to rebound in the Championship in 2009. It was 2016 that I saw Southgate in the first team again, replacing the vacancy left by Sam Allardyce after his misconduct. Since Southgate was the coach of England's U21, many people believe that Southgate's appointment is just a "temporary firefighting", and there will be someone else who will really lead England to the 2018 World Cup. After
, it is the well-known journey to the semi-finals of England. England, which had already been home for a strong team, lost in the penalty shootout with luck and belittled the "gold content" of the English semi-finals. Both stopped at the semi-finals and narrowly defeated their opponents with a very small advantage, but the reputation received by Belgian coach Roberto Martinez in public opinion was completely different. In terms of "luck", Croatia's promotion journey did not face much test, but it also fought three times in a row until 120 minutes, and had two penalty shootouts before it qualified to play against France in Moscow, but received applause from the whole world. I can only say that sometimes this world is really different from the same fate.
has been delayed for one year. Before the game, Southgate clearly stated that any result below the semi-finals will be a failure, and such bold statements have been ridiculed by many media as being shameless. But Southgate, who had failed in the European Cup, knew very well that to remove the label of England's "pseudo-strong team", we must first abandon our mentality cowardice. The four right-back candidates were accused of being redundant, the double midfielder was accused of being conservative, Jack Grelish and Jaden Sancho were absent from the team and were criticized, but Southgate still believed in his judgment against the opposition. At the post-match press conference against Germany, Southgate admitted without evading suspicion: "I know very well that I am queuing like this. If I lose this game, I will definitely not even have a life."
pragmatism does not mean conservative, and cautious does not mean cowardly. The rules of the game in the international competition are "low error tolerance", and Southgate, who has emphasized "game management" since his tenure, chose to lead the team in a way that conforms to this game rules. The criticism caused by the process is not a small number even in England, let alone outside England. But in the face of the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990 and the first European Cup final in history, any criticism of style seems pale and powerless.
Moreover, whether it is not likable or not, Southgate has indeed eliminated a lot of demons for England. The years of unwinding in the penalty shootout battle, the criticized knockout record has not been tested by a "strong team", and even the regret of Southgate himself hated the semi-finals in 1996. From the 2018 World Cup to the 2020 European Cup, Southgate led this young generation of England to pay off the old debts imposed on them step by step. If you take your eyes away from individual games and take a step back and observe England's transformation since the 2016 Iceland game, you will find that Southgate has already led England a long way.
In terms of record and growth, Southgate deserves to be the most successful coach in England in 31 years since 1990.
