With the likes of France and Portugal already out of the competition, Southgate will be looking to write his name in the history books.
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England have advanced to the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 after an impressive 2-0 victory over Germany on Tuesday. The match was Germany coach Joachim Low’s last match as manager of the German side. That position will now be taken over by Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick. England’s two late goals were scored by Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling and Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane. Thomas Muller had a wonderful opportunity to level the score at 1-0 but he pulled his shot wide of Jordan Pickford’s goal. England will face either Sweden or Ukraine in the quarter-final stage, a tie which they should win quite comfortably.
The match was an evenly contested game for the most part. Germany saw the majority of the ball as they controlled 55% of the possession while England had 45%. The Germans even had more shots with nine than the English with five. However, Low’s men could only manage to keep three of those shots on target. England had four shots on target, two of which found the back of the net.
Sterling’s first goal was a brilliant team effort by England. He was the one who began the move when he sped past Antonio Rudiger before laying it off to skipper Harry Kane. The Tottenham striker then passed it to Jack Grealish who found Luke Shaw on the overlap. The Manchester United full-back’s cross was met beautifully by the Manchester City attacker as he slotted it past Manuel Neuer to make it 1-0 to England deep in the second half.
Shaw was involved in the second goal as well when he found himself in a rather unusual central position. The defender then passed the ball to Grealish who found space on the left and used it to his advantage. He delivered a pinpoint low cross into the German penalty area that was met brilliantly by Kane to score his first goal of the European Championship and England’s second of the night. Both England goals came late in the second half, so the hopes of a German comeback were pretty dull anyway.
A number of members in the German side might have played their last match for the country in a major tournament. The likes of Thomas Muller for example. The Bayern Munich forward seemed absolutely distraught as he was brought off the pitch by his manager in the closing stages of the game. It was he who had the best chance of leveling the scores up when he was one-on-one with Pickford. Muller had even managed to beat Pickford with the shot but it was painfully wide of the post.
Euro 2020 has had its fair share of drama and upsets. It has also provided England with arguably their best chance of winning a trophy in many many years. With the likes of France, Portugal, and The Netherlands already out of the competition, Gareth Southgate will be looking to write his name in the history books at the end of this tournament, and he will not get a better stage to do it anytime soon.
