Southgate Says England Winning The Euros Is Hard As The World Cup

England manager Gareth Southgate believes his side are heading into Euro 2020 in better shape than they were before the World Cup, but insists winning the competition will be just as difficult.

Southgate’s England secured Euro 2020 qualification with minimal fuss, winning seven of their eight matches and scoring a whopping 37 goals.

Eleven of those goals have come in their past two matches, with Thursday’s 7-0 demolition of Montenegro followed up by Sunday’s comfortable 4-0 triumph away to Kosovo.

England, who reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, secured their spot at next year’s tournament on Thursday, and Southgate is impressed by the standard his players are at, but he is not sure how they will fare against the top contenders.

“What we don’t know, because we haven’t had those tests more recently against the top eight or 10 [nations], is exactly how we’re going to cope in those moments, and to win the European Championship is, at the moment, no easier than the World Cup,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“The final four at the World Cup were all European and you’ve got to add Spain, Germany, Portugal and all the others into that. It’s a really high-level tournament.”