London (dpa/States Perform)
England coach Gareth Southgate expressed his happiness at his team’s 2-0 victory over Ukraine in the second round of the European Football Championship qualifiers, to be held in Germany next summer. The England team dominated the match, while the Ukrainian team did not pose any danger during the match, and did not hit any ball on goal.
England’s control pleased Southgate, who in turn paid tribute to Leicester City’s playmaker James Maddison, who created five chances in his second international. “The risk was that when you control the game there are some sloppy passes sometimes, but the application on the pitch was excellent,” Southgate said.
He added, “We have broken many barriers over the course of time, but there have been many question marks in our confrontation with the bigger teams.”
“We started to win those games, but there is still room for improvement,” Southgate added.
He explained, “We always try to think about the present time and what’s next. We did that with James Maddison today. We think it was a good occasion to see him in that match.”
“He’s very strong defensively,” Southgate said. “It’s also great to have Ivan Toni on the pitch, but we have to know that qualification is not a given.”
#Lions #team #breaks #barriers