GARETH Southgate admitted the criticism of him has hurt as he targeted a first-every major final outside England following the Three Lions’ penalty shootout win over Switzerland in the quarter-finals.
England again appeared to be heading out of the tournament after Breel Embolo poked Switzerland ahead with fifteen minutes left.
But Bukayo Saka produced a moment of brilliance ten minutes from time when he cut in from the right and curled a low shot in off the far post from 25 yards.
Extra-time couldn’t separate the teams as England faced penalties for the first time since they lost the shootout to Italy in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley.
But England were flawless this time as Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Saka and Ivan Toney all scored after Jordan Pickford had saved the first spot-kick from Manuel Akanji.
It gave Trent Alexander-Arnold the chance to clinch it, and he lashed his shot into the left of Yann Sommer’s goal to put England through 5-3.
It also sparked very different scenes from those after the 0-0 draw against Slovenia in the final group game when the team and Southgate were booed and empty beer cups fired onto the pitch.
England will meet the Netherlands in the semi-final on Wednesday.
“Every now and then surely there has to be some enjoyment in this job,” Southgate said. “I love the players and sharing that moment with them.
“I can’t deny when things get as personal as it has it does hurt. I don’t think it is normal to have beer cups thrown at you. But we are in a third semi-final in four tournaments. We will keep grinding, keep fighting and keep enjoying this journey.
“I took this job to try and improve English football, to give us nights like this.
“We continue to give people fantastic memories.
“Now we want to deliver one more thing. We have never been to a final outside England, never won a Euros, so there are two bits of history we would love to create.”
Southgate has been impressed with the resilience of the side, after they came back from being behind in the last ten minutes for a second game in a row.
“With England it was often start 25 minutes really well, go ahead in games and then out in the early knockout rounds,” Southgate said. “We weren’t savvy or tournament wise. This group are different. They keep possession for longer periods.
“We haven’t always got it right but in general we have shown the resilience that teams that win tournaments have had for years: Italy, France, Spain…it is not all pure football, it is other attributes they have had.”
Southgate set his side up with three at the back, a move that was leaked to the media before the game.
Southgate said: “A lot of our processes have been shared. We live in an amazing world where it is so difficult for us because any element of surprise you might have is gone three days before the game. It’s quite incredible really.”
