Gareth Southgate: England will have to be close to perfect to win World Cup

Gareth Southgate heads into Friday’s World Cup draw believing England can win the tournament – but admits they will have to be “close to perfect” to triumph in Qatar.

Confidence, experience and belief have all grown in the Three Lions squad thanks to the run to the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup and reaching the final of Euro 2020 last summer.

Southgate accepts his team are “there to be shot at” but that they have a right to rate their chances.

He said: “We have said to the team this week, ‘if we can get to a semi-final, we can get to a final, and we did. If we can get to a final, we can win’. That’s clear.

“To do that is incredibly difficult and we’ll have to be as close to perfect as can be.

“That’s the challenge for us, not just when we get to Qatar, because we’ve got to be in the right condition, even before that. That’s what we’ve got to work towards every day we’re together.

“We know we’ve had consistent performances over a three, four-year period and we are one of the teams – I think there are a few – that could win this tournament.”

We've definitely got respectability and I think we will be a team other teams wouldn't look forward to playing- England manager Gareth Southgate

England are in pot one alongside the other highest-ranked six nations in the draw plus hosts Qatar.

Dangers lurking in pot two include Holland, Germany and Croatia, while a meet-up with Scotland or Wales is not out of the question, with those two nations grouped with Ukraine as one placeholder in pot four.

Asked how other teams might feel about facing England, Southgate said: “We’ve definitely got respectability and I think we will be a team other teams wouldn’t look forward to playing.

“But that’s a double-edged sword though because some