England Coach Gareth Southgate Arrogantly: We Can Win If We Go To The 2022 World Cup Final, That's Clear

JAKARTA – England national team coach Gareth Southgate is so optimistic about bringing his team to the Qatar 2022 World Cup. The 51-year-old tactician believes his team can bring home the title.

Southgate's confidence grew thanks to his team reaching the semifinals at the 2018 World Cup and the 2020 Cup final last summer. Unfortunately, in the European Cup they were beaten by Italy on penalties.

"We have told the team this week. If we can reach the semi-finals, we can reach the final, and we can do it. If we can reach the final, we can win. That is clear," Southgate said as quoted by Sky Sport.

England are in pot one with the other six highest ranked nations in the draw plus hosts Qatar. Thus, England has the potential to meet other strong teams such as the Netherlands, Germany and Croatia, which are in pot two.

Southgate said his squad would be wary of and would not want to be found by other teams. However, they also have to keep the worst possible against teams that are not seeded.

"To do that (championship) is very difficult and we have to be as close to perfection as possible. That's the challenge for us, not only when we arrive in Qatar, because we have to be in the right shape, even before that that's what we have to work on every day together. ," said Southgate.

England is one of 29 countries that have confirmed themselves to qualify for the finals of the four-year event. The Three Lions will find out their opponents in the preliminary round when the draw takes place on Friday, 1 April 2022.

A total of 32 countries will compete in the championship. However, the remaining three ticket slots still have to be won by eight countries through play-off matches.

This year's World Cup will take place from November 21 to December 18 2022 in eight different cities. This is the first time this most prestigious event has been held in the Middle East.