Southgate's century is solid, but could have been spectacular

DUESSELDORF, Germany : Gareth Southgate will chalk up his 100th, and possibly last, match as England manager in Saturday's Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland with "impressively solid" vying with "oh, but what might have been" to be his legacy.

But for Jude Bellingham's 96th-minute equaliser against Slovakia, Southgate would have been out on 99, almost certain to have stepped down, and with all his previous good work quickly forgotten in the fallout of an absolutely wretched performance by his players and an inexplicable one by him.

Because England went on to win that game, however, he could yet join Alf Ramsey as the only England manager to win a major trophy having already matched the 1966 World Cup winner as the only other one to reach a final.

Any analysis of Southgate's tenure needs to be seen in the context of where England were when he took over.

In the 2014 World Cup, they finished bottom of their group with one point - their worst-ever showing - and reached their modern nadir with the humiliating defeat by Iceland in the second round of Euro 2016 that left a huge gulf between players and fans as hapless boss Roy Hodgson departed.

When Southgate took over in 2016, England were ranked 12th in the world and in total disarray.

Eight years on, they are the only European team to have reached the quarter-finals of the last four major tournaments.

They appeared in a European Championship final for the first time, losing on penalties to Italy, reached a World Cup semi-final for the first time since 1990 and lost out to France in a classic 2022 World Cup quarter-final that could have gone either way.

They have lost once in 35 World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and, against Colombia in the 2018 World Cup,