Gareth Southgate proven right as England beat Germany

Southgate gets it right as Sterling and Kane lead England past Germany

After suffering through plenty of losses at the hands of Germany, England were finally able to return the favor and get a big burden off their backs as they beat the Germans 2-0 to knock them out of Euro 2020.

The win was an historic one for England that not only meant their progression through to the quarterfinals, but a vindication for manager Gareth Southgate.

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Southgate came under criticism time and time again in this tournament as soon as the lineups were released. Pundits and supporters alike felt he was being too defensive and ignoring players such as Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish.

Those criticisms didn’t stop as he kept both those players, as well as Mason Mount and Phil Foden, on the bench. He set up conservatively against Germany and it paid off.

England laid all the initiative to the Germans to start the first half and it paid off. Germany were on the front foot but unable to do any damage. England got into the game as the half progressed and nullified any sort of danger from Thomas Müller and Kai Havertz.

The second half started very much like the first and everyone was clamoring for Southgate to make a change. He did bring on Grealish for Bukayo Saka but kept the system pretty much the same.

It all paid off in the 75th minute when Raheem Sterling connected inside the box on a cross from Luke Shaw to put England 1-0 — much to the delight of the fans at Wembley.

It was Sterling’s third goal in four games for England.

Germany did give them a scare as Muller was through on goal, facing a one-on-one against Jordan Pickford. English supporters held their breath as the Bayern Munich forward shot past Pickford only to see the ball go just wide — to the relief of those inside of the stadium.

Harry Kane, who faced his share of critics, put the game to rest. Similar to the opener, the goal came from the left side of the English attack. Only this time, it was Grealish who delivered a medium height cross to the Tottenham striker. Kane had to hunch over a little but made good contact with his header and he finally made his presence felt.

For better or for worse, Southgate’s set up worked and the result against Germany proves it. It may not be the most exciting but it’s worked so far.

"“The performance was really important,” Southgate said. “We were playing a team with four World Cup winners, a manager who has had an incredible career with Germany. I have huge respect for what he’s done.“We know there have always been questions about us against big teams and we knew Germany, with their experience, would dictate certain parts of the game.Source: Sky Sports"

Southgate also said that his team had the brains to go with the usual heart and passion usually associated with England.

"“We will always have passion and heart but we also had brains,” he said. “We pressed at the right moment, the forwards picked the right moments to go and stay, we found a balance of being brave with the ball and keeping possession in our own half and right moments to go quickly and counter. That was a real step forward for us.”Source: Sky Sports"

The win not only exorcises any of the ghosts or demons they might have had when facing Germany but, in a way, also takes some of the sting off of Euro 2016 in which they fell in a shock upset to Iceland.

While there may be players left over from that side, it’s also a mix of new players with a different mentality. They’ve all bought into Southgate and are now full of confidence going forward. England are primed to make it to the semifinals if they can get past Ukraine in the quarterfinals.