DOHA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- England coach Gareth Southgate admitted that he is starting to get excited at the prospect of Saturday's World Cup quarterfinal when his side takes on reigning champions France.
The match will be played at 10pm local time in Doha, which is 7pm in England, and Southgate said he could imagine the atmosphere building up back home.
"A Saturday night, with everybody at home, playing the world champions, the history of the two countries, the sporting history as well, there's so much on it. They're brilliant nights to be a part of," he said in an interview with the BBC.
Southgate said that England had studied their rivals and had "a good insight into them."
"We'd be naive to go into any game and just see how it goes. At the highest level you've got to prepare for the opponent," he said, discussing players such as Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.
"Every team has special players that you're making certain plans for, or at least making your players aware of where their strengths are, the types of runs they make and where they might get their goals," commented Southgate.
Four years ago, Southgate led England to the World Cup semifinals in Russia, and the summer of 2021 saw them reach the Euro 2020 final against Italy. Although his side has performed well so far in Qatar, Southgate admitted demands were higher as a result of previous performances, although they have also learned to deal with the pressure.
"Over this period of time we've had so many of those occasions that now there's less satisfaction with getting to the quarterfinal, there's more desire to go further and there's more evidence that we've come through these nights well," he explained, adding that reaching the European final last year was a step forward.
"I think we've got credibility now. To get to a semifinal then a final, I think the rest of the world believe that England are competitive and they know that we have performed under pressure a lot more in the last few years," Southgate said. ■
