HARRY KANE is doing some proper damage in Germany and let’s hope he is still delivering in his adopted country on July 14, the day of the Euro 2024 final.
Because whatever he achieves with Bayern Munich this season, nothing would get remotely close to the achievement of lifting that trophy in Berlin.
England are the hot tip to win the competition next summer — although, if favourites always won, the bookies would be out of business.
Yet Kane, Jude Bellingham & Co firmly believe this, finally, is their time.
A lame 2-0 win over Malta and a laboured 1-1 draw with North Macedonia hardly got the pulses racing.
And those performances did nothing to dissuade critics of Gareth Southgate — of which there are many — who feel that England will not win a major title while he is in charge.
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But regardless of the Three Lions’ potential goal threat, the key to winning Euro 2024 will be at the back.
In these last two qualifiers, England looked suspect defensively without the injured John Stones. His importance to the team is completely underestimated.
Manchester United’s Harry Maguire, 30, struggled on Monday in North Macedonia but, due to his previous tournament performances and the general lack of experience of those coming through, he is certain to play alongside Stones.
But if the 29-year-old Manchester City defender suffers any more injury issues going into the summer, then Southgate has one hell of a problem.
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Do not be fooled, this team is not perfect. The squad does not have the strength in depth that some fans and pundits would have you believe.
There is also a huge issue at left-back. England need Luke Shaw, 28, fit again.
Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell, 26, is injury-jinxed and we do not have any other oven-ready players in this position.
Rico Lewis, 19, did well in Skopje and was unlucky to concede a penalty but he is one for the World Cup in 2026.
As Southgate knows, stability is the key. We keep hearing about the calls to ‘take the handbrake off’.
That attitude, however, did not get the Golden Generation very far.
Southgate is influenced by Germany at Brazil 2014 where boss Joachim Low insisted on a pragmatic approach even though he was getting panned by his critics — who, in the end, were proved wrong.
Equally, Portugal, despite having Cristiano Ronaldo, were quite functional for much of Euro 2016 and did not even win a group match.
They were simply horrible to play against and difficult to beat.
Southgate’s hope of his team becoming the world No 1 may have felt premature but those Fifa rankings are a pretty decent guide of where a team stands
With England currently at No 4, the only European team above them are France.
Last year’s World Cup quarter-final, which Les Bleus edged 2-1, showed that there is not much between those two.
Portugal remain a strong bet and could hurt the Three Lions but, elsewhere, this is a weak period in European football.
Hosts Germany, along with Spain and Italy — who scraped through qualifying — are not in particularly good places.
Southgate knows with some fine-tuning, a bit of luck with injuries and rock-solid performance from his big guns, England will take some stopping.
Captain Kane’s influence is obviously massive on and off the pitch. His absence during the match in Skopje was obvious and it was no coincidence he forced a mistake from an opponent for the equaliser 40 seconds after coming on.
Bellingham’s extraordinary rise under Carlo Ancelotti with Real Madrid will clearly continue over the next six months.
He enjoyed a decent World Cup but this precocious talent will believe that Euro 2024 will be HIS tournament. Looking at how the 20-year-old’s career has blasted off into orbit, no one should doubt him.
Elsewhere in midfield and wide areas, England have Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford, James Maddison, Jarrod Bowen, Bukayo Saka, plus Raheem Sterling, who has not played since the World Cup and made a silly mistake by making himself unavailable for the June qualifiers.
Grealish, 28, said: “There is obviously Harry up front and then behind him there is talent there. It is ridiculous.”
However, with the exception of Saka — while the impressive Cole Palmer has just come into the squad — all of those players have been inconsistent for Southgate.
In central midfield, Southgate will play with another defensive-minded player next to Declan Rice, 24, but we do not have a clue who that will be.
Jordan Henderson committed professional suicide by moving to Saudi Arabia, is 33 and looked off the pace. Kalvin Phillips is not playing for Manchester City and the 27-year-old needs to move clubs.
The Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment continued against North Macedonia and he must be given another chance against Brazil in March but it is not ideal that he will return into defence with Liverpool.
Southgate knows anything other than victory at Euro 2024 will be considered a failure. It is extremely harsh but that is the reality of managing this country, particularly with a couple of genuine world stars in the ranks.
As for England going one better than Euro 2020 and winning it in Germany, realistically, right now, it looks 50-50.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
