Gareth Southgate says Euro 2020 delay could improve England’s chances
Competition would have begun today, if not for coronavirus pandemic
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Your support makes all the difference.England manager Gareth Southgate has said Euros 2020‘s coronavirus-enforced delay until next summer may improve his team’s chances at the tournament.
The competition was set to begin today (9 June), but will instead take place in 2021. It will be held across 12 European cities as originally planned.
“At one point we were possibly looking at being without Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane, or – at the very best – both of those not having a lot of football,” Southgate told Sky Sports.
“We have got certain positions where we are strong and certain positions where we don’t have that strength in depth.
“Maybe some of those things will be better in a year’s time, but other teams will be the same.
“I’m looking at the German league and people like [Kai] Havertz playing, and their young players are going to develop as well.
“[It’s] difficult to predict, the age of the [England] team you would hope would be better in a year’s time, but we have to go and prove that on the pitch.”
Kane was set to miss the remainder of the Premier League season for Tottenham, but with top-flight action in England resuming on 17 June, the delayed restart has given the England captain time to recover from his hamstring surgery.
Meanwhile, Rashford – who suffered a double stress fracture to his back in January – has been given a similar boost.
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