Garett Southgate insists the England team should learn from the failure of the Italian national team for their Euro 2024 qualification.
Gareth Southgate said England should should not take the Euro 2024 for granted and wants his side to learn from Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup last year.
Italy won Euro 2020 following their victory over Southgate’s side on penalties in the final, but missed out on last November’s World Cup in Qatar after losing to North Macedonia in a playoff.
Euro 2024 qualification Group C pits England against Italy, North Macedonia and Malta, starting with Thursday’s trip to Naples, where the Three Lions will attempt to win for the first time since 1961.
England overcame their Euro 2020 disappointment with a resounding 4-0 win over Hungary next time out and Southgate is targeting a similar response as they seek to consign December’s World Cup quarterfinal exit to France to history.
“Without a doubt [Italy’s recent history is a warning], said Southgate. “I think what we did really well after the Euros was our first game was away in Hungary and we gave one of our best performances, I think.
“Our mentality from the start was really, really good. I don’t expect that mentality to be a problem but it is a reminder that these early stages of qualifying are crucial.
“I can remember us scoring a late goal against Poland at Wembley with no fans and people would have taken that victory for granted but it was such an important moment in qualifying. We had several of those in our previous qualification campaigns.
“Although some of those groups looked comfortable in the end, there were plenty of nights where that wasn’t the case.”
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