England can cope with pressure to win Euro 2024: Southgate
Gareth Southgate insists England can cope with the pressure of their status as one of the favourites to win Euro 2024.
Southgate's side booked their place at next year's tournament in Germany with an impressive 3-1 win against Italy at Wembley on Tuesday.
England recovered from Gianluca Scamacca's early opener to see off the Italians thanks to a pair of Harry Kane goals either side of Marcus Rashford's strike.
With two games still to play, unbeaten England are guaranteed to finish top of Group C after a dominant qualifying campaign that underlined their status as one of Europe's elite teams.
Having lost the European Championship final on penalties to Italy two years ago – while also reaching the World Cup semifinals and quarterfinals in the Southgate era – England are expected to mount a serious challenge for the trophy in Germany.
Southgate has no qualms about embracing England's position as one of the leading contenders and he believes his players can handle the burden.
"I think we have to accept that. Pressure comes when expectation is different from reality and reality is we are going to be one of the teams capable of winning," he said.
"There are others. You've only got to look through the top 10 European nations and on any given night one can beat another. But we're comfortable with that."
England made amends for losing the Euro final to Italy by beating them twice in the group stage, leaving the holders in danger of failing to qualify.
Southgate said winning a group that also featured Ukraine showed the development of his squad.
"There is more to come from this team. This was the toughest qualifying group, with the seedings. People have criticised us for not beating the top teams enough. But we have performed
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