Gareth Southgate sends England stars message that leaves no doubt over Euro 2024 plans
Gareth Southgate last night urged his England players to grasp the chance to become legends.
The Three Lions boss has called on Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and co to wipe away the memory of agonising near-misses by returning home from Germany as European champions. England face Serbia in their opening group game in the Veltins Arena.
And Southgate said: “I think there is an opportunity for people to make a name for themselves. This is a moment in time for them and we have picked players who are in good form.
“I don’t think there is any question that there is strong belief in the group. We have got a balance of players who have had some really big nights together - and others who have a rawness, an energy and an excitement about them being in their first tournament.
“Both things, I think, are adding to the group. I said to them last night, when we had a meeting about tournaments and lessons we can take from the past, that there are things from that past we should discard.
“To have the experiences we’ve had are really, really important - and irrelevant in equal measure. We have to go and play and get it right tomorrow.”
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GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY - JUNE 15: Serbia's attacker Dusan Vlahovic (C) attends a training session at Schalke Arena on June 15, 2024 in Gelzenkirchen, Germany on the eve of their UEFA Euro 2024 group C football match against England. (Photo by Pedja Milosavljevic/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Southgate has been given a boost with the availability of Luke Shaw, who last played for Manchester United in February but was called up as a calculated risk. "Everyone's available," the England boss confirmed. "We have a decision whether Luke is possible to use from the bench or not but everybody has trained today and is available."
On Serbia themselves, Southgate added: "Very tough. They have good individual players, fantastic collective spirit. Dangerous forwards. We know this is a difficult opening game for us and we have to play at our very best to win the game."
Star striker and captain Kane, who plays his club football in Germany with Bayern Munich, said: "We want to win the game tomorrow evening but in the 90 minutes, anything can happen.
"We want to have a fantastic game and play in the style that we want to play. Without the ball, we want to be aggressive. Hopefully we go out tomorrow night and show a good side of ourselves."
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