England will take on Germany in the last 16 of Euro 2020 on Tuesday, with Gareth Southgate admitting that starting spots are still up for grabs for the showdown at Wembley.
On a dramatic evening that saw the identity of England’s knockout opponents change on numerous occasions, Germany looked to be heading out of the tournament last night as they twice trailed to Hungary in Munich.
However, Leon Goretzka’s 84th-minute strike secured Germany a 2-2 draw and ensured they would finish in second position in Group F behind table-toppers France.
Portugal, who drew 2-2 with France last night, also qualify for the last 16.
Meanwhile England manager Gareth Southgate was satisfied with his side’s display in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over the Czech Republic, but admits he is still to settle on his line-up for the last 16.
Asked whether he had decided on his team, he said: “For the last 12 months, whenever I’ve written a team sheet down anything more than two days before a game it’s changed, so at the moment, no.
“We’ll watch the matches (last night), see how everybody is through the next couple of days and go from there. I think what’s clear is there are some areas of the team that we’ve been able to build closer to what we think is full strength as the last four weeks has gone on.”
England’s reunion with Germany will inevitably evoke memories of previous tournament meetings, whether good (the 1966 World Cup final) or bad (the penalty shoot-out defeat in 1990, the semi-final defeat at Euro 96 and more recently the 4-1 World Cup thrashing in South Africa in 2010).
The current German side have been in mixed form in this tournament, thrashing Portugal, losing narrowly to France and almost coming unstuck against Hungary, whereas England have been defensively solid, keeping three clean sheets, but have lacked inspiration in attack.
