Gareth Southgate upbeat for England Under 21s' play-off with Croatia
Friday 12 September 2014 15:41, UK
England Under 21s boss Gareth Southgate is confident his squad has the strength in depth to overcome Croatia in the European Championship play-off.
Southgate's side will meet the Croatians over two legs between October 8 and October 14, with the first leg taking place at Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Molineux ground.
England completed a near-perfect qualifying group campaign this week with a 3-0 win in Moldova - their ninth win from 10 Group One qualifiers - and that form has convinced Southgate that there is enough quality in the group to secure a place in the finals in Czech Republic next summer.
“I was delighted not just with our results but with the style of play our players were able to produce,” Southgate told Sky Sports News HQ.
“We made changes to the team in our second game this week and the depth of the squad is very exciting.
“The players we brought in were able to produce the same type of football and in the play-off games we hope to reproduce the level of quality we have had so far.
“I didn’t give players games just out of sympathy, a lot of guys are knocking on the door. That makes training a real challenge for everybody and that’s the way you improve your performances.
“We have three weeks before these matches and a lot can happen between now and then.”
Holders Spain have been drawn against Serbia, while the other five play-off ties are Slovakia v Italy, France v Sweden, Denmark v Iceland, Holland v Portugal and Ukraine v Germany.
Given the standard of the teams in the draw, Southgate was always prepared for a difficult pair of play-off fixtures.
“It’s clearly a difficult draw for us,” he said. “They knocked out Switzerland. They topped a tough group and won all of their away matches.
“We’ll be at home first and we will start doing our homework now to find out about them.
“In reality, when I looked through the draw I didn’t see an easy game in there at all, and it was always going to be hard whoever we played against.”
The tournament finals will take place between June 17 and June 30 next year.
