The head coach of the England team in an extensive interview spoke about the upcoming European Championship, the conflict between Sterling and Gomez and much more.

It was a busy year for England. League of Nations draw, Euro 2020 qualification and confrontation between Rahim Sterling and Joe Gomez, as well as racist scandals. Gareth Southgate, England coach, analyzed the past 12 months and talked about his expectations for the new year.

Looking forward, Southgate believes in a successful performance of the England team at the European Championship, the semi-finals and final of which will be held in London.

" However, I still think that France and Belgium have proven that they are top teams in Europe and the world.. Portugal - reigning European champion and winners of the League of Nations - savvy team that knows how to win. Our team is getting younger and younger, we have to be careful with this process. "

Gareth Southgate noted that in particular he will deal with the team’s actions in the defense game, which previously had problems.

" When we defended compactly, we did not have too many problems. They appeared when we lost the ball and allowed the enemy to counterattack "

" If I look at the team and the options that we have in the attack, there will be several players who do not regularly play for their clubs - they will still have many opportunities to take a place in their position "

At the 1996 European Championships, the England team reached the semifinals, where in the penalty shoot-out they lost to Germany.

Euro 1996? This is the past, now we are talking about this group of players. Events of the 96th year were forgotten during the World Cup in Russia. Most of the team does not remember this.. Given that Jadon Sancho was born in 2000, I feel very old. I do not need to involve them in this, they themselves know the history of England.

I told them all when we started: “England has a story and there is a period of setbacks, but it's not your fault, this is my generation of players. We had outstanding teams and we didn’t achieve what we would like. " My wards should not be saddled with this. The reality is that we hit two semifinals in two years for the first time in 30 years. "

\? Let's hope you need to worry about it.. We will celebrate success on the streets for quite some time, right? I have to let everyone dream, and part of my job is to make those dreams come true..

You also need to deal with reality and understand what is needed to achieve goals.. Despite the fact that we have not had games for several months, together with the coaching staff we plan each event next summer. We are also working on some of the events that should happen before the 2022 World Cup.. Every morning I wake up and think: “If I had to choose a team tomorrow, who would it be?

Gareth Southgate coached Middlesbrough for three years and is considering returning to club football, but is now completely satisfied and focused on the success of the national team.

" Sometimes in life we \u200b\u200btry to look into the future, and do not enjoy how lucky we are that we have what we have. I feel that our team can still get better, there are goals that we still want to achieve..

In future? I know for sure that in 10 years I won’t train the England team - I hope that even after six months. I would be disappointed if I were not tied up with work in any of the clubs, to be honest. I'm not worried about it now because my phone didn’t ring. I think that’s because people know about my commitment to the work that I’m in. "

In a match of the 12th round of the Premier League between Liverpool and Manchester City, a clash between Joe Gomez and Rakhim Sterling. Gareth Southgate asks to understand that these are young guys who are characterized by excessive emotionality.

" In some of them, there is no perfect solution, and you should all work together.

I have to make a decision that suits the team in the first place, and also support both players. In this situation, a lot of people, and everyone will have their own opinion. Those who have run or coached before understand the complexities of any such situation..

The most important thing is the team and its performance. We managed to focus very quickly on football, and we got the necessary results, and both players returned to the field. They definitely got close, and Rahim's message, when Joe got a negative reaction to Wembley, was really strong. We are dealing with young people who will sometimes be emotional. "

To all the @England fans, I wanted to leave things at it was but tonight I have to speak again: it was hard for me to see my team mate get booed for something that was my fault. Joe hasn’t done anything wrong \u0026 for me to see someone who keeps his head down and work hard.

- Raheem Sterling (@ sterling7) November 14, 2019 In addition, Gareth Southgate addressed the topic of racism, which is talked about a lot in the context of England and the national championship.

" We should not hide from her, we have the opportunity to make a difference. Ideally, we would not want players or coaching staff to go through this experience..

The players knew that they had the support of all the staff, the football association and each other, most importantly.

They knew that they were united in their views on the problem.. I think the right reaction has occurred. The best way we can show people the way forward is to work like us, in a team where there are no prejudices, all completely together, regardless of their origin, regardless of their religion, regardless of the heritage of their individual family. They all play for England, they all desperately want to succeed. "

Sky sports.