England v Czech Republic: Silverware within reach if Gareth Southgate can make Three Lions more ruthless
Hubris has pulled the rug from under England frequently enough to make any assumptions inadvisable but even the most cautious Anglo-Saxon will recognise that the qualifying process for the 2020 European Championship, which begins tonight, should present few hazards.
The now-expanded finals and a revised path to the tournament proper ought to make it easier than ever for the leading teams to qualify, while a group devoid of any other teams who reached last year’s World Cup appears straightforward to navigate.
Czech Republic, who visit Wembley tonight for England’s Group A opener, are the highest ranked opponents and they, at No44, are 39 places below Gareth Southgate’s men in Fifa’s current standings.
England should have ambitions beyond merely attaining the top-two finish needed to progress, then, and, for all the green shoots that Southgate has cultivated so far, there are aspects of their play that would benefit from further nurturing.
An inability to convert their superiority into a match-winning advantage, particularly in the first half of games, has repeatedly undermined the national team’s recent efforts.
They would be well served by using qualifying fixtures against the Czechs, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Kosovo to hone a ruthlessness that tends to separate the very good sides from the ones who end up standing beneath the tickertape and clutching the prizes.
Wastefulness
Last summer’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Croatia is the most vivid manifestation of a wastefulness that has plagued Southgate’s otherwise hugely encouraging tenure.
England should have been out of sight by half-time but, just as in previous games in Russia against Tunisia and Colombia, their failure to build the bigger lead that their possession and attempts merited allowed their opponents back into the contest – only this time there was no last-minute winner or penalty shoot-out reprieve.
When bad habits resurfaced in their last outing, November’s Nations League decider against their Croatian nemeses, late goals from Jesse Lingard and Harry Kane were needed to rescue an eminently avoidable scenario.
Although lately the acquaintance has been fleeting, England are no strangers to efficiency in front of goal.
In the opening half an hour of their Nations League away win over Spain in October – the most impressive spell of Southgate’s two and a half years in charge – they rained goals on their shellshocked hosts.
Two strikes from Raheem Sterling and another from Marcus Rashford gave the visitors a grip on the game in Seville that not even their traditional second-half regression and a belated Spanish fightback could undo.
While the counter-attacking tactics employed that evening were a deviation from the norm, England’s finishing provided a blueprint that they must hope to follow.
Attacking bounty
That the raw materials are there is in little doubt; few countries in Europe, save perhaps reigning world champions France, can boast the bounty of attacking talent at Southgate’s disposal.
Kane’s Golden Boot last summer is testament to his status as one of the game’s most reliable marksmen. The electrifying Rashford is in the midst of his most prolific season to date. A maturing Sterling has passed 20 goals in successive campaigns. Both young men have never looked more confident.
They are ably supported by the pin-sharp Jesse Lingard – like Rashford, absent this time through injury – and capable Dele Alli.
And then there is the next wave: Jadon Sancho, who has contributed to 26 Borussia Dortmund goals this term and dazzled in three cameos with England, and fellow 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi, whose incisive and assured displays for Chelsea have gleaned a first call-up.
Turning a gifted generation into a finely-tuned unit is the devilishly difficult trick that falls to international managers, and more decorated men than Southgate have failed to master it.
The rewards are within reach for this England team, though – more so than for their recent predecessors.
They are two wins at June’s inaugural Nations League finals in Portugal away from lifting a first trophy since 1966, while the predominance of Wembley as a host for next year’s continent-spanning European Championship should make England shorter odds for success than they have been before any tournament this century.
Honing this band of players into a more ruthless team over the next few months demands a kind of alchemy from Southgate, but precious metals await if he succeeds.