Gareth Southgate challenges his England squad to win the 2022 World Cup

England manager Gareth Southgate has challenged the current crop of players to garner valuable experience which would put them in good stead by the time the next World Cup arrives. The Three Lions was recently rewarded with a new contract after guiding the team to the semi-final stage of the previous World Cup in Russia and he has now set the benchmark for the squad to go and win the next global tournament in Qatar.

Speaking to reporters, Southgate said that the current squad needs to learn to make an impact in the big matches and he agrees with FA chief Martin Glenn’s comments about England winning the European Championship or World Cup in the near future, he said: “Martin’s point was right. What we set about with the junior teams was we want to be in and around semi-finals all the time — where you’re in the matches that give you a chance to have success and consistency. Consistently high performance is what we’ve got aim for. I think all sports teams have to gear towards that. Then you learn how to win those really big games, because you’re in there all the time and experiencing those moments of pressure. That’s what we want our players to have.”

England managed to reach “ the semi-final stage of the World Cup for only the third occasion during the summer but they could not progress further“ after they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Croatia in added extra time. The “ Three Lions thereafter succumbed“ to another defeat to Belgium in the third place play-off game but the squad nevertheless managed to exceed expectations initially set aside.

Despite the positives, Southgate’s team have yet to overcome a top 10 FIFA nation in a competitive fixture and that is something the manager may seek to improve in the next couple of years before they compete with the continent’s elite at Euro 2020.