Pep Guardiola believes that Phil Foden and the rest of the England national team can win the European Championship in Germany this summer. Photo: Kin Cheung / AP Photo / NTB.
Of NTB | 04.05.2024 11:44:50
Sport: Under Gareth Southgate’s leadership, England have reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, as well as losing the final of the 2020 European Championship.
Guardiola compared the England national team to Manchester City’s performances in the Champions League, which they won for the first time last season after coming close to winning the competition in several previous seasons.
– The national team? It’s really good. But it’s not just the talent of the strikers, it’s the whole package, the whole squad. Gareth knows exactly what he has to do, Guardiola said at Friday’s press conference.
– I and everyone else see that the English national team, in the last tournaments, WC and EC, have taken big steps. They are on the edge, they are very close, he continued.
England have never won the football European Championship, but won the World Cup on home soil in 1966. It is the men’s national team’s last championship triumph. However, Guardiola is aware that there will soon be another upturn.
– When you get to these stages every other year, it’s going to happen. It’s quite similar to us – we were close and in the end we won it (Champions League). You just have to believe in it. If they believe in it, they can do it, the coach said.
During this year’s EC in Germany, England plays in a group with Slovenia, Denmark and Serbia. The championship begins on June 14.
(© NTB)