Southgate: 'Meet France is the hardest test'

"Meeting France is England's biggest test," Southgate said after the win at Al Bayt. "France are the defending champions, with an incredible depth of talent and outstanding individuals. It is very difficult to kick and score against France. But it will be a great challenge, and a great game for us to try. myself with the best."

Striker Harry Kane shared his teacher's views when he emphasized: "If you want to win the World Cup, you have to face and overcome the best teams in the world. France is definitely one of them."

Meanwhile, Eric Dier believes that both France and England have great respect for each other, but are not afraid to confront. "France is a strong team, but so is England. Mbappe is a great player, but in football you defend as a team and that's the most important thing. That starts from the front line," the national defender said. I said.

Yesterday, England did not play aggressively but still scored twice in the first half thanks to sharp counter-attacks. In the 38th minute, Jude Bellingham escaped to the left and then stretched for Jordan Henderson to connect with one touch to open the scoring. In the third minute of compensation, Phil Foden poked a slot for Kane to cross the corner to beat goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, scoring the first goal at the 2022 World Cup.

In the second half, "Three Lions" continued to play in moderation and scored another goal thanks to Phil Foden's shining moment. Man City midfielder accelerated past Youssouf Sabaly on the left wing and then passed Kalidou Koulibaly's needle thread to Bukayo Saka's cross to make the score 3-0.

A few hours earlier, France also easily defeated Poland thanks to Olivier Giroud's historic goal and Kylian Mbappe's superb double. Poland only removed one goal in the last seconds with a penalty kick by captain striker Robert Lewandowski.

Southgate is wary of Mbappe's threat, hailing the 23-year-old striker as a world-class player and creating key moments from the start of the tournament. He also appreciated the ability to make the difference of Antoine Griezmann and Giroud - who surpassed the legendary Thierry Henry to monopolize the scoring record for France with 52 goals. "France also has excellent young midfielders. You can clearly see France has incredible depth in every position," Southgate continued to praise the opponent in the quarter-finals.

England's attack is also highly appreciated, when Mason Mount, James Maddison, Jack Grealish or Marcus Rashford are all substitutes in the match against Senegal. Before the football game, Raheem Sterling also left Qatar to visit his family when a thief broke into the house.

Southgate was pleased when Kane scored his first World Cup goal to relieve the pressure. "With any striker, not having scored will affect the mentality, and you will feel more confident when that comes," said the 52-year-old coach. "I wanted Kane to score to relieve it and it was a sharp finish."

He will play the quarter-finals against France at Al Bayt Stadium at 2am on December 11, Hanoi time.