Jurgen Klinsmann is not surprised that England have reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020, saying they were always the tournament favourites from the very start - and their win over his native Germany came as no shock as a result.
England have never won the Euros and have not lifted a major tournament trophy since winning the 1966 World Cup on home soil, however they did reach the semi-finals of Russia 2018 and the inaugural UEFA Nations League a year later.
Gareth Southgate's side have an abundance of attacking talent, with Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish among the weapons in their abundant arsenal - and Klinsmann says their return to the final four of major competition was to be expected.
What has been said?
Speaking to Goal and Spox, Klinsmann said: "For me, England were favourites for the title right from the start. They have a very good defense and the mix is right, and up front they have that scoring power and greed to score goals.”
As well as their attacking talents, England are yet to concede in any of their matches so far, with Jordan Pickford keeping five clean sheets in the tournament.
What about Germany?
The landmark win for England so far at Euro 2020 was beating Germany at a major tournament for the first time since the 1966 final, winning 2-0 at Wembley in the round of 16 thanks to Sterling and Kane goals.
It was another disappointing tournament for Germany, after they went out in the 2018 World Cup group stage - however Klinsmann says they cannot be too surpised, as they faced opposition which is currently much stronger.
He said: “You have to look at all the games separately. France was 50-50, decided by an unfortunate own goal, the game against Portugal was tough, against Hungary we were under enormous stress to equalise.
"The game against England could have gone our way with the chances of Timo Werner and Thomas Muller, but of course the overall balance is negative because we were eliminated far too early in the round of 16 and never developed a high level of consistency in the tournament.”
This brought to an end the 15-year reign of 2014 World Cup winning manager Joachim Low, and Klinsmann - for who Low was his assistant when he coached Germany at the 2006 tournament - thinks his old No. 2 will be remembered fondly once the dust settles, despite more recent disappointments.
He said: “Of course, the messed-up World Cup 2018, the last place in the Nations League and this botched Euro 2020 detracts from the assessment, but the World Cup title in 2014 will forever be associated with the national team coach Joachim Low.”
Further Reading
- Werner called goalkeeper after attending Grand Prix
- Hitzfeld urges Low to give up management
- Gosens flattered by Barcelona links