‘Feel sorry for Gareth’

Ahead of England’s Euro quarter-final against Switzerland tonight, midfielder Phil Foden says team’s inability to fire has put boss Southgate under pressure

Saved by a dramatic late fightback to beat Slovakia, Gareth Southgate will take charge of England for the 100th time in Saturday’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland under pressure to tear up his tactical plan. The Three Lions have stumbled their way through to the last eight, winning just one of their four games within 90 minutes, and a star-studded squad who thrive when playing for their clubs has so far failed to deliver. Yet history could still beckon for Southgate’s men in Germany.

Gareth Southgate

Phil Foden, who picked up Premier League player of the year awards for his starring role in Manchester City’s title triumph this season, has looked out of sorts shunted out to the left to accommodate the Real Madrid man. Meanwhile, there is little threat down England’s left as Foden has drifted inside and Southgate’s decision not to take a fit natural left-back, with Luke Shaw battling back from injury, has proved misguided. “I feel sorry for Gareth,” Foden told reporters this week. “We [the players] have to be leaders. In games we could have got together a little bit more and worked out a solution.” 

England are the highest ranked side left on the ‘soft’ side of the draw with Turkey or the Netherlands waiting in the semi-finals should they manage to defeat the Swiss in Duesseldorf. Switzerland, who cruised past holders Italy 2-0 in the last 16 and held Germany 1-1 in the group stages, promise to be a step up from anything England have faced at the tournament so far. Failure to change tack is likely to see Southgate bow out as England boss at a century of matches and invite a tidal wave of criticism for failing to make the most of the talent at his disposal. He has already been targeted at this tournament with thrown beer cups after a dull 0-0 draw with Slovenia in the group stages. 

Bellingham handed one-game suspension

Jude Bellingham is available for England’s Euro 2024 quarter-final with Switzerland after he was given on Friday a suspended one-game ban for his controversial celebration after scoring against Slovakia in the previous round. In a statement, European football’s governing body UEFA said that Bellingham would be fined 30,000 euros ($32,477) and suspended “for a total of one UEFA competition match for which he would be otherwise eligible for violating the basic rules of decent conduct.”

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