XtraTime Web Desk: England football team’s manager Gareth Southgate says he will open up on the team’s success in the upcoming 2018 World in Russia after seeing how the young players in the team play in the biggest carnival of World football.
Performance of the Lions in the recent major events are under par as they were knocked out from the group stages of 2014 World Cup and later in 2016 during the UEFA Euro Cup they faced a shock defeat against Iceland in the round of 16.
He will be eager to improve England’s record but the 47-year-old says he is also focused on developing the young talent in his squad.
“I could sit here and say this round or that round — but it doesn’t mean anything, really, because we have to keep improving as a team,” Southgate told ESPN when asked what he would see as a successful World Cup.
“We’re trying to change the style of play — we have our young players developing with better technical ability with the ball. We know these players and we believe that, in the long term, some of them can be world class players.
“Maybe there are other players a bit older… but we don’t think we could win a World Cup with them in the future and would rather invest time and show belief in young players.
“For a long time, we have worried about what might go wrong — but we have to look at how far can we go and how far can we progress.”
Southgate’s emphasis on building a team for the future could lead to several Premier League veterans, including Joe Hart and Gary Cahill, being excluded from his provisional World Cup squad, which will be announced later on Wednesday.
“Everyone wants to play in a World Cup — everyone wants to play in every match,” Southgate added.
“We have a couple of injuries, unfortunately, which means players definitely can’t go, and the other decisions for us have become clearer as the season has gone on. It’s exciting, now, to look forward to the tournament.”
England open their World Cup campaign against Tunisia on June 18.