Southgate targeting Messi and Mbappe as he sets new England ambition

19 November 2023 , 22:30

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Southgate targeting Messi and Mbappe as he sets new England ambition

Gareth Southgate has set a target of making England the No.1 team in the world during his reign as manager.

‌Southgate has issued the challenge to his players ahead of their Euros qualifier in North Macedonia to ensure they maintain high standards after admitting they let them slip against Malta. England are currently fourth in FIFA’s rankings, they have been third in the past under Southgate and have been in the top five for five consecutive years.

‌But England could leapfrog Brazil before the end of the year and Southgate wants to overtake world champions Argentina and France next year.‌ Southgate, who could be taking charge of his last qualifier as England manager, said: “With the games at the weekend, we might be ranked third in the world at the minute, but we’re two places off where we need to be so we can’t waste games.

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“But if we’re going to be a top team, then the level of performance has got to be spot on every time. Yeah, because ultimately you achieve that through consistency and you’ve got to play well in the tournaments as well because the ranking points are higher in the tournaments.

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“Also, it sets behaviours every day on the training pitch, off the training pitch. If you are going to be the top ranked team, there’s no room for sloppiness or casualness. That’s got to be our drive.

“Clearly the way we played at the weekend isn’t the image we want to leave of ourselves. But I didn’t give praise to Malta the other night, I thought they played well. I just think we’ve set standards and we want to hit those standards.”

‌Southgate’s contract expires in December 2024 and, despite former FA board member David Dein insisting England should give him a new contract now, the Three Lions boss says even thinking about next summer’s Euros was a distraction against Malta.

Gareth Southgate wants to lead England to the top of the FIFA world rankings (GEORGI LICOVSKI/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

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Southgate added: “I think talk of the summer was a distraction on Friday in its own way. Look, in football management, frankly I think you should look no further than three or four games ahead anyway.

‌“But I think when you’ve got a tournament coming up, inevitably, as an international manager, you’re going to be judged on tournaments so everybody before that is pretty futile, really. I haven't really thought about it really.

‌“I feel almost as if we’ve almost talked too much about the Euros already and I didn’t see our focus in the right place at the weekend. So it’s tomorrow, then it’s March, then it's the summer. And we go from there.”

John Cross