England must win to earn respect of football world, says Southgate

BERLIN : Gareth Southgate is 90 minutes away from completing his eight-year mission to "win the respect of the football world", when a win over Spain in Sunday's Euro 2024 final would finally earn England a slot on the big screen highlights reel.

Southgate gave his penultimate press conference of the tournament in the bowels of Berlin's Olympiastadion just over 24 hours before his team will run out seeking to finally win another major trophy to go alongside the 1966 World Cup.

The "58 years of hurt" that have followed that Wembley success usually featured a routine of overblown expectation followed by massive disappointment, and Southgate felt that that boom and bust was a self-perpetuating cycle.

"We tried to change the mindset from the start, we've tried to be more honest about where we were as a football nation," he said.

"I've travelled to World Cups, European Championships and watched highlights reels before the matches on the big screens and we weren't in any of them - because they only show the finals. So we needed to change that.

"We had high expectations, but they didn't match where we were performance-wise. Now, the high expectations are still there but we have consistent performances over certainly three of the last four tournaments."

England have been a slow burn in this one, only really catching fire in the semi-final victory over the Netherlands when they finally delivered an attacking display worthy of their pre-tournament favourites' tag.

"We've had to find a different way of playing as the tournament progressed," Southgate said. "When we came in we had a lot of issues, particularly at the back, a lot of players who missed a lot of football towards the end of the season.

"We've been trying to find the right blend