Gareth Southgate has praised the mentality of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and some of the other lesser-utilised players in his England squad as the Three Lions beat Germany to reach the Euro 2020 quarter-finals on Tuesday. The Everton striker missed out on the matchday squad entirely against the Germans despite Harry Kane’s struggles in the tournament so far, ensuring he has played just a minute at the tournament so far. Three Lions captain Kane endured another frustrating afternoon, though he did manage to get his first goal of the tournament when heading home from a Jack Grealish cross late on. And when explaining how he’s dealing with his squad players, like the Aston Villa man and Calvert-Lewin, Southgate admitted they are having to sacrifice themselves for the squad.
Gareth Southgate said: “With forward players, we’ve got so many attacking options. It’s hard to give them all the love they need. As a forward you need to feel that love. They’re accepting and understanding of needing to be patient, needing to wait for their moments right across the board with Marcus, with Jadon, with Dominic, with Jack. They’ve really understood and sacrificed themselves for the group. It’s only by doing that you get to the stages we are. Everyone has got to be ready and that’s going to be more and more important as we get to the latter stages of the tournament.”
