All-time most tournament games managed 

©TM/IMAGO

Despite England winning their opening Euro 2024 game 1-0 vs Serbia in Gelsenkirchen, Gareth Southgate and his team were the target of plenty of criticism after the match. After all the second half display was lacklustre, and the Three Lions were perhaps fortunate to walk away with all three points, having to absorb some late pressure from the Serbs. The ineffective performance of Phil Foden has been a prominent discussion following the game, as the 24 year old, who enjoyed a superb season with Manchester City, failed to make his mark. He completed 0 dribbles and didn’t manage a single shot.

Nevertheless, tournament football has never been easy, and England winning their first game with a clean sheet should be celebrated. Two years ago in Qatar, eventual winners Argentina lost their opening match to Saudi Arabia, finalists France lost to Tunisia. Since Southgate has been manager, England have now won their opening game at all four major tournaments with him at the helm. And the 53 year old possesses a mightily good record at major tournaments – only Sir Alf Ramsey who won the World Cup with England in 1966 has a better average points per game (ppg) record at major tournaments than Southgate.

Gareth Southgate’s impressive record at major tournaments with England

As you can see above, Southgate trumps most England managers records when it comes to results at major tournaments. You have to go back to Ramsey who last managed the Three Lions in 1974 to find a boss with a better record and even then it was very marginal, beating Southgate’s 2.05ppg with 2.08ppg. If England beat Denmark on Thursday, Southgate would actually become number one, moving to 2.10ppg. Yet the England boss is still constantly vilified and often ridiculed by the media and supporters alike. There is a perception, that with England’s embarrassment of riches when it comes to attacking talent, Southgate should let the shackles off and play more attacking football, but is that really how you win major tournaments?

Portugal won Euro 2016, and only won one game in 90 minutes (a 2-0 win against Wales in the semi-final). They made it through the group with three draws and just three points. It’s not even like Southgate even has a bad record when it comes to his England side scoring goals at major tournaments. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the Three Lions scored nine goals in the group, including a 6-1 win over Iran, and then beat Senegal 3-0 in the round of 16 – only both of the finalists in Argentina and France scored more that tournament. Also, quite incredibly, no England manage in history has led the nation in more games at major tournaments than Southgate now has with 20 matches in charge. That’s already five more than the next manager on that list in Sir Bobby Robson. If England go to the final this summer, Southgate will reach 26 games.

During the four tournaments he has managed in, England have scored 37 goals in 20 games, averaging at 1.85 goals per game – not a bad record at major tournaments. Some of the criticism is of course worthy. Most people would agree that Southgate is not an elite tactician in the bracket of Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and perhaps even Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann. His in game management has often been questionable, and has probably cost the Three Lions in the past. Nevertheless, he has truly united the group and made players want to play for England again, and a record of a semi-final, losing a final on penalties, and a quarter-final where you crash out to the holders is not a bad record at all. 

Of course, the counter to that would be England have generational talent, but that’s not a pre-requisite to international success. The Three Lions infamous ‘golden generation’ that boasted the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney never even made it past a quarter-final. Many international sides oozing with world class talent have failed short at major international tournaments, and striking the balance between attacking football and being a tight ship defensively is usually key to success. As the Euros progresses this summer, many of the questions around Southgate’s capability of being a successful England manager will be answered, but an opening 1-0 win against a decent Serbia team should not be scoffed at.