Mind the gap: Gareth Southgate says England still lagging behind France & Co
Friendly defeat to France shows how far England need to go before next year’s World Cup in Russia
England manager Gareth Southgate admitted Tuesday’s 3-2 friendly defeat to France in Paris provided further evidence of how far his side still have to go before they can be considered contenders at next year’s World Cup.
They were unable to hold onto an early lead given to them by Harry Kane and ended up conceding defeat, despite the hosts playing most of the second half with 10 men at the Stade de France.
Kane scored a brace, with the second coming from the penalty spot after Raphael Varane was sent off. In between, Samuel Umtiti and Djibril Sidibe netted for France and Ousmane Dembele got their late winner.
It was the third successive friendly match that England have failed to win under Southgate after a 2-2 draw with Spain in November and a 1-0 loss in Germany in March, but the manager insisted the gap to those sides was no bigger than what he imagined.
“If I’m honest it is absolutely what I thought. We have been competitive in all three games but we needed to play at our absolute limits to stay in all of those matches and that has shown in the end,” Southgate said.
