England manager Gareth Southgate says the European Championship in Germany might be his last chance to win a major trophy with the country, having been in charge of the Three Lions since 2016. The 53-year-old led England to the Euro 2020 final and also guided them to a third-place Nations League finish in 2019.
Former Middlesbrough coach Southgate has been linked with Manchester United but earlier said he was completely focused on the national team. His England contract expires in December. “If we don’t win, I probably won’t be here anymore. Then it might be the last chance,” Southgate said.
“I think about half the national team coaches leave after a tournament - that’s the nature of international football.
“I’ve been here for almost eight years now and we’ve been close. So I know that you can’t keep standing in front of the public and saying, ‘A little bit more please’, because at some point, people lose faith in your message. If we want to be a great team and I want to be a top coach, then you have to deliver in the big moments.”
Tickets for Portugal training on offer for up to 800 euros
Tickets to watch Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo train with the national team in an open session on Friday at their Euro 2024 tournament base in Westphalia are on sale for as much as 800 euros ($858.32). Ronaldo, the leading scorer in men’s international football with 128 goals in 204 official matches, will be playing in his sixth Euros, having reached the final on his tournament debut in 2004 and winning the competition in 2016.
The 39-year-old has played in Saudi Arabia since his move there in 2023. The 6,000 free tickets for Friday’s training session were snapped up in a few minutes when they went on sale and some are now being offered in small adds for hundreds of euros. There were several tickets offered for 400 euros while others were on sale for 800 euros on the German kleinanzeigen small adds website.
Portugal play the Czech Republic in their opening Group F match on June 18 before facing Turkey and Georgia.
Netherlands suffer De Jong injury blow
Netherlands defender Nathan Ake said it was tough to learn just before Monday’s kick off against Iceland that midfielder Frenkie de Jong would miss Euro 2024 with an ankle injury. “Everyone went straight to see him. It’s hard for him, it’s hard for us,” Ake said after the Dutch won 4-0 in a Euro warm up in Rotterdam. De Jong, 27, was a doubt for the tournament even before Ronald Koeman’s squad met up earlier this month. The Barcelona playmaker’s last appearance was in a Spanish Liga defeat to Real Madrid in April. The Oranje start their European Championship campaign against Poland on June 16 and then play favourites France and Austria in Group D.
“Frenkie is an important player for us and he is super in the squad,” Manchester City defender Ake said. Koeman may also be without a second midfielder Teun Koopmeiners, who suffered an injury in the warm-up before the Iceland victory.
Our strength is unity, not one leader: Spain’s Pedri
Spain midfielder Pedri says his country’s strength at Euro 2024 will be teamwork rather than having a key player or leader. Three-time winners La Roja boast no superstars in the vein of France’s Kylian Mbappe or England’s Jude Bellingham, but Barcelona playmaker Pedri believes that could play into Spain’s hands. “The leader is the whole team,” Pedri said at the country’s Der Oschberghof training base, in the south-west of Germany.
“The captains help us a lot too, but I think the big difference with all the (other) countries is that we are a team and there is no one leader above the rest.”
England manager Gareth Southgate during training. (Reuters)
