England managed to finally slay the German beast at Wembley, beating them 2-0 in the Round of 16 and according to Jose Mourinho ‘It’s coming home’.
As expected, the match was a really cagey affair as both sides refused to take unnecessary risks during the first half of the match. In the second half, things did open up a bit and it was England who took advantage of the situation thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane.
And speaking after the match, AS Roma boss Jose Mourinho seemed pretty content with how England played and he’s also confident that the Three Lions will be able to go all the way.
Mourinho told talkSPORT: “I watched the game I expected to watch, a big game. Honestly, the geometry was there, the duels were there, both teams respecting each other a lot, but England in my opinion are very, very solid, very compact.
“And then in the right moment, it couldn’t be a better moment to do it [score] with 10 minutes to go, and then the little bit of luck in that one-on-one with Muller.
“I’m really happy for Southgate, the players and the fans. I’m singing ‘it’s coming home’ to show my happiness. […] [But] it’s not yet coming home.
“England need balance in the bad moments and in the good moments. The same way media is critical in the bad moments, we have to be balanced now, there’s still a long way to go.
“In the normal conditions, England are going to be in the final, because I don’t see them losing against the teams they could face in the next rounds.
“But we must respect football and the unpredictability. France are not in the quarter-finals because they didn’t respect the game in the final 10 minutes.
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“I’m very, very pleased. I just hope it ends well, I hope it comes home. But football is football. I always say, in the bad moments I don’t want me and my team to be in hell, but in the good moments I don’t want to be in heaven.
“So, I would say to them calm down and just focus on the next game.
“But, in my opinion, England are ready for anything and I will be very disappointed if we don’t make the final, because we should, we should, we definitely should.”
England face Ukraine in the quarter-finals of the European Championship and to be honest, we don’t see them losing this one either. So theoretically, the English side should at least be playing in the semi-finals of the tournament.
England have faced Ukraine seven times so far and they have only suffered one defeat( a 1-0 loss in 2009). But interestingly, the Three Lions have failed to beat Ukraine in their previous two meetings(a 1-1 draw in 2012 and then 0-0 in September 2013).
Southgate’s side will host Ukraine on the 3rd of July at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
