0:00:00. Somewhere at St George’s Park, presumably now hidden away in some dusty, unused room, is the stopped countdown clock former FA chairman Greg Dyke set running in 2013.
The symbolic ticking towards the 2022 World Cup final was a recurring reminder of the long-term plan for England to become champions in Qatar.
Well, time ran out on December 18 and England were nowhere to be seen as Argentina beat France to lift the trophy at the Lusail Stadium. Gareth Southgate and his players had packed up and headed home more than a week earlier.
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The tournament anticipated and earmarked by Dyke a decade before passed England by like so many others.
Onto the next one, then?
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In football there’s always tomorrow. Always the next tournament. For the supporters at least.
For Southgate and the players in his squad who are in their prime, Euro 2024 looks like it will be the defining chapter of their story with the national team.
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Image: Gareth Southgate looks dejected following England's loss to France
Eight days after that quarter-final exit to France – familiar story: played well, didn’t get over the line, more penalty pain – Southgate seemed to realise the significance of this European Championships. After hinting he would have to think long and hard about whether he’d continue in the role, the England boss swiftly confirmed he’d lead the team for the competition in Germany.
It certainly feels like the work is unfinished, the talent of this group of players so far unfulfilled.
The shift in mood among England supporters has been significant over the past nine years. The run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a giddy, unexpected sugar-rush. The Euros effectively on home soil was a sun-drenched summer to remember… until the final day ugliness off the pitch and the shootout slip-up on it.
By Qatar, England fans – a significant number of whom had booed the team and called for Southgate to go in the run-up as they were relegated in the Nations League – were no longer just grateful to have a likeable, plucky team of youngsters. They wanted and expected to win.
In failing to do so this winter, Southgate’s era is in danger of being tarnished and re-written in a less positive light than it might be. He got lucky with the path through the draw in 2018, say his critics. The uninspiring group-stage draws with Scotland and USA summed up his cautiousness. He didn’t have the tactical nous to beat Croatia or Italy, or the ability to change those games or the defeat to France with his substitutions.
“Getting to the quarter-finals wasn’t a big achievement and I don’t think we should be celebrating it,” Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp said after the Qatar World Cup. “He has done a decent job but we shouldn’t be thinking that there isn’t anyone else out there. There will be a lot of good managers who would do an equally good job.
“Any young, English, Premier League manager worth their salt would have gotten England to the quarter-finals, when you look at the teams we’ve played.”
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England boss Gareth Southgate believes captain Harry Kane will have added motivation to impress in a Three Lions shirt after his missed penalty in the World Cup against France
When England kick off their qualifying campaign against Italy on Thursday, it will be a reminder they were just a couple of converted spot-kicks away from glory in 2021. A shootout success away from Southgate and his players writing their name in legend. Instead, the impact he can have on this squad is being questioned.
Fine margins. A near-miss. Falling short. Is that how the story will end? The clock is ticking down again, this time to Euro 2024 – and when it stops next summer the legacy of Southgate and this generation of players will be decided.
Southgate: Italy the type of team England must start beating
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England manager Gareth Southgate insists the Three Lions have to start defeating big nations consistently and believes they can re-write history by winning in Italy for the first time since 1961
Speaking in a press conference on Wednesday evening, Southgate said England’s recent history is “irrelevant” ahead of their opening Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy, which is “the type of game we’ve got to start winning”.
The 52-year-old said: “In a nutshell, it is the sort of challenge that we’ve got to start to take on and the type of game we’ve got to start winning. We have over a period, but we’ve got to now consistently try to do that.
“That said, we haven’t won here since 1961, so it’s another bit of history that we’re trying to break down and that’s a great challenge for this team because they’ve knocked down so many of those barriers in the past.”
Asked what the key message ahead of the game in Naples would be, he added: “A little bit of talking about the experiences we’ve had across the last four or five years. Some of the players have been involved in all of that, some have joined during that period.
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Gareth Southgate asks England fans to respect the local culture ahead of their match against Italy in Naples
“The fact that we don’t need any more evidence of belief; they’ve been involved in some of the biggest matches in world football and they know the level that’s required, they know they have the ability to compete at that level.
“And then the fact that whatever we’ve done in the past is irrelevant tomorrow night because we have to start again. We have to have the humility to work hard to qualify again and it’s a great fixture for us to get that under way.”
England in their prime?
Earlier this week, England Jack Grealish said of Euro 2024: “I feel like the next one really could be our one. Everyone will be in their prime.
“It’s no secret that we all want to win a tournament – and I do think it is there to be done.”
The forward has a point. At the past two World Cups, Southgate had named squads with an average age of around 26. They were the joint-second youngest group in Russia and the eighth youngest in Qatar.
But, with Southgate now making it clear he will stand by his tried and tested, England’s current squad will average almost 28 by next summer’s tournament (assuming he names the same 23). It would have made them the fifth oldest group at the last World Cup. Time to deliver?
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The nine current England squad members who will be over 30 by June 14 2024, when the European Championships begin: Jordan Pickford, Fraser Forster, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier, Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane.
Who will start against Italy?
As ever with predicting England squads, first it has to be established whether Southgate will go with a back three or a back four.
When these sides last met in the Nations League in September, England matched up the Italians with a three-man defence, however, at the World Cup there was a shift to 4-3-3 for each game and Southgate appears to be willing to go with that system now to capitalise on the strength of his options in wide attacking spaces.
Coupled with Southgate’s admission last week that it was “impossible” to only pick players playing regularly for their clubs, his favourite pairing of Harry Maguire and John Stones look set to start in Naples – despite them making just six Premier League starts in 2023 between them.
At full-back, Luke Shaw will have credit in the bank after his World Cup performances, despite the return to fitness of Ben Chilwell, while on the other side, if fresh after his own injury-layoff, Reece James will presumably be welcomed back into the right-back role ahead of the more experienced Kyle Walker or Kieran Trippier. As ever, Southgate has given himself plenty of options at right-back, though.
Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham are certainties in midfield, while Jordan Henderson is likely to join them if he is over the illness which kept him out of the second leg of Liverpool’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid. The Reds captain certainly impressed Southgate during the World Cup.
Up top, captain Harry Kane will lead the line in search of a record-breaking 54th international goal for England. Bukayo Saka’s fine form for Arsenal gives him a good chance of playing on the right, with Man City team-mates Jack Grealish and Phil Foden battling for a role on the left. The former has put in a number of excellent displays since the World Cup but Southgate picked Foden for three of the four games in Qatar he was available for and may still prefer him to Grealish for such a big game.
Predicted England XI: Pickford; James, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Rice, Bellingham, Henderson; Saka, Kane, Foden.
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