World Cup draw: England need to be 'close to perfect' to win the tournament in Qatar, says Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate says England will have to be “as close as perfect as can be” to win the World Cup in Qatar. England will find out who they will play in the World Cup group stages on Friday (17:00 BST) and are in pot one for the draw alongside defending champions France and Brazil. Ad/> The Three Lions fell at the final hurdle at Euro 2020, losing in the final to Italy on penalties, but the England manager says there is enough quality and belief in his squad to go all the way at the winter tournament.

World CupSo, Qatar 2022 is really happening then – The Warm-Up2 HOURS AGO «We'll have to be as close to perfect as can be,” Southgate told reporters. “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. «If we can get to a final (like Euro 2020), 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. »If you want to be in the big jobs, you've got to live with the expectation.

/> “We’ve got to rationalise it in that we know there are some other very good players. But equally we have to accept there’s a belief and part of winning is being able to handle that. “We handled that well through the summer in a tournament where had a lot of matches at Wembley, and it was probably Scotland being the only one where we didn't really handle that.