Southgate: “My players have taken a step forward”

Gareth Southgate, England coach, assured that the great stars of this tournament are stepping up and now it is the turn of their players.

“We completely controlled the first half, but we didn’t create many chances,” admitted Southgate. “At the break, we thought it would be better to change the order of the wings, because they are players who can go inside and also find the center from the outside. Good players advance in the contest and now did I “.

The evolution from Russia 2018

“In Russia we thought if we could get through one round, now the expectations are higher. We have more experience,” Southgate added.

The English coach praised the form of Marcus Rashford, author of tonight’s double against Wales and recalled the bad time that has passed since he missed a penalty against Italy in the final of the last Eurocup.

“It’s a challenge for him. I went to him in the summer, I spoke to him, he thought a lot about what he should do. He wasn’t happy with his performances at United, but we saw him a lot. good in training. Now he’s done a ‘hat trick’, he can shine like he did tonight”.

Senegal, “a very difficult opponent”

England will face Senegal in the round of 16, a team Southgate hasn’t seen at the World Cup, but he knows.

“We know that in the ranking we are the favorites, but we have to show it because we played against a very difficult team. I haven’t seen much during the tournament, but I saw them in Vienna against Iran in September (1-1) ,” Southgate said.