According to Opta 's calculations, England has a 19.9% chance of winning EURO 2024, the highest in the tournament. Following England is France, with 19.1%. However, while France is highly regarded for having reached the finals in 3 of the last 4 major tournaments (EURO 2016, World Cup 2018 and World Cup 2022), the high regard for England brings a feeling of... uncertainty.
At the 2022 World Cup, the most recent major tournament, England reached the quarterfinals against France. Under coach Gareth Southgate since 2018, England's performance in major tournaments has improved. However, apart from the runner-up position at EURO 2020, England's performance in reality still leaves many doubts.
England are the reigning EURO runners-up.
The Three Lions reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, in fact, thanks to being in an easy draw (avoiding France, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal), rather than being overwhelmingly strong against their opponents. EURO 2020 was truly England's peak performance, however, the disappointment of being "kicked out" by France at the World Cup just a year later raised questions about the true ability of the England team, and Mr. Southgate himself.
To be fair: Coach Southgate has done much better than previous England coaches. Even Fabio Capello, Roy Hodgson, Steve McLaren or Sven Goran-Eriksson, despite leading the England team at its peak with a series of great players such as Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, were still often eliminated from major tournaments. The image of Coach McLaren standing under an umbrella in the pouring rain when England stopped in the EURO qualifiers after losing to Croatia will forever haunt fans. Because with such a talented generation, the England team did not deserve such a cruel ending.
There are many reasons for the failure of the England team in the past. One of them is that the stars are over-hyped, as coach Pep Guardiola once said that in Spain there are up to 100 players of the level of Jack Wilshere - a player praised by the English as a prodigy. Or the previous English stars were all very individualistic and... difficult to manage. Balancing such players is not a simple matter.
England team is the most valuable team in the tournament
So why is it that a coach with a mediocre resume (only coached Middlesbrough) and who was not a good player when he was playing like Southgate, has better results than his predecessor?
There is a theory that England have been on the rise since 2016, when the Premier League was truly the dream destination for the best managers. Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel have all come here. Even a mediocre team like Everton had Carlo Ancelotti.
Thanks to talented strategists, England players (the vast majority of whom play in the domestic league) have been raised to a new level. Look at how Guardiola has trained Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, John Stones to become players, how Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson have improved under Klopp, or how Harry Kane was discovered, nurtured and developed by Pochettino at Bayern Munich under Tuchel.
Coach Southgate under pressure
Coach Southgate is doing what many people dream of: coaching very good players. Unlike his predecessors, Coach Southgate does not impose (or... cannot impose). The English strategist is not excellent at tactics, which is sometimes a good thing. He simply puts the players in their natural positions. And with stars who have trained all year with top-class coaches, perhaps Southgate does not need too much coaching.
His job is to build a system that allows players to be as comfortable as possible. Perhaps this is why the current England team not only outperforms the previous generation, but is also very predictable and has no rebellious egos.
However, that does not mean that Southgate's job is... easy. In his seventh year leading the England team, the former Middlesbrough coach needs a title to match the most expensive value that England has. Just coaching in such a pressurized and scrutinized environment is not a simple matter.
This is the 11th EURO for the "Three Lions". In history, no team has played 38 matches but still has not won the championship like England. Coach Southgate and his team must escape the fate of "paper tigers" at all costs!
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-anh-phai-thoat-canh-ho-giay-185240613204516005.htm
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