The Three Lions could possibly face one of Portugal, France or Germany in the Round of 16 stage of the ongoing Euros and Southgate has insisted that England need to beat the best if they want to win the most coveted trophy.
Portugal, Germany and France are three of the teams tipped to win the competition and many have posited that Southgate’s men does not stand a chance against any, but the English coach is not perturbed about facing them in the next round.
"To win a tournament you have to beat those teams,” the former Middlesbrough coach said.
“We wanted to make sure we won the group and stayed at Wembley. We don't know if that is advantageous in terms of where the draw will take us but we would rather be here, we could have come second and still have had a really difficult draw. To win the group is good for confidence and it is great our fans will see us in the next round here."
Southgate’s men have been slammed for playing unattractive football especially against Scotland last Friday.
The Englishman was asked if England have taken into consideration of playing ‘champagne football’.
"We would like to see that as well. I think if you spoke to the players we spoke a lot about that freedom, but we are a little bit short in a few areas of that match fitness and that sharpness.
"We have hit the woodwork in all three matches and the other thing we have to get better on is our attacking set-play which is normally such a good source of goals for us and our deliveries have been really poor. They are often the goal that breaks the deadlock and opens teams up but I have to say the Czech Republic are a very good team and their ranking is a red herring really."
