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In the World Cup quarterfinal against France, Gareth Southgate promises to offer England supporters “another night to be proud of.”
Gareth Southgate has vowed that England will take the game to France tomorrow night and insists the Three Lions have no intention of “covering up and sitting on the ropes”.
The England manager said his team wanted to give the nation “another night to be proud of” on the eve of the World Cup quarterfinal, but he also acknowledged that they would need to play nearly flawlessly to defeat the world champions.
With 12 goals scored in four games, England is tied for the tournament lead in goals scored in Qatar. Southgate has employed a front-foot style of play thus far.
The manager, who has frequently come under fire for being overly pragmatistic and conservative, declined to specify if he will alter to a back three against Didier Deschamps’s team but said England is looking to cause France difficulties at Al Bayt Stadium.
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Asked if he wanted his side to maintain their offensive approach, Southgate said: “Yes, without a doubt. There is no point going into a game like this and just covering up and sitting on the ropes.
“We believe we can cause France problems, and we intend to do that. We’ve got to stick on the path we’ve been heading. We’ve done a lot of things very well. There are things we are going to have to do better to get a result against France. The basis of our game is good, with and without the ball.
“We need to make sure that the detail is as close to perfect, we are never going get perfection, but we have to get as close to that as we can.”
England hopes to make it to back-to-back World Cup semifinals after narrowly missing out on their first major final in 55 years at the European Championship last summer.
“We’ve beaten some big teams,” Southgate added. “We know we have the experience of high-pressure nights behind us as a team. We’ve been resilient through a lot of situations — they all prepare you for nights like this.These nights are ones that bring millions of people together, they will remember where they were, and we want to give them another night to be proud of.”