Gareth Southgate has warned his England players not to take their foot off the gas this summer after a flying start to their Euro 2024 qualification campaign. England faced a potentially tricky opening two games in Group C but managed to come away with maximum points after <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2023/03/24/italy-v-england-player-ratings-retegui-8-di-lorenzo-4-kane-8-shaw-5/" target="_blank">winning 2-1 away to reigning champions Italy</a> for the first time since 1961 last Thursday, and then <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2023/03/27/england-v-ukraine-player-ratings-saka-8-kane-8-zinchenko-6-madryk-5/" target="_blank">defeating Ukraine 2-0 at Wembley Stadium</a> on Sunday. It was the perfect response to the disappointment of being <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/fifa-world-cup-2022/2022/12/10/harry-kane-misses-penalty-as-england-crash-out-of-world-cup-against-champions-france/" target="_blank">knocked out in the World Cup quarter-finals by France</a> in December and next up for Southgate's side will be a trip to Malta and home game against North Macedonia at Old Trafford in June. England will be expected to come away from that double-header with another six points but Southgate insisted his team must not let their commitment levels drop – even after a hectic season interrupted by the finals in Qatar. “I would expect everyone would want to be here and want to be a part of it,” the Three Lions manager said of the June games. “We’ll of course look to psychologically refresh the group by giving them some time off at the end of the season. “But if we start to think that we haven’t got to turn up for games in June because the world ranking of the opponents isn’t as high as the two opponents we’ve had now, then we are in trouble, really. “That’s not the approach we’ll be looking for and I don’t think the mentality of the team [is like that]. “We’re challenging the team to be the best in Europe in the next 13 months. “That requires everybody’s commitment, that requires everybody to be prepared to play whenever and that requires the standards of training every day and everything we do to be at the highest level no matter who we’re playing against.” The relentless goal hunger of captain Harry Kane will be crucial in their latest attempt to win only their second major tournament. Under Southgate, England have <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/gareth-southgate-proud-of-england-progress-despite-world-cup-semi-final-defeat-1.749517" target="_blank">reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals</a> before going <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/2021/07/11/old-warriors-leo-bonucci-and-giorgio-chiellini-lead-italy-to-euro-2020-win-over-england/" target="_blank">within a penalty shoot-out of winning Euro 2020</a> – with Kane the spearhead of both campaigns. The 29-year-old became England record scorer by finishing from the penalty spot against Italy, and then following it up with another against Ukraine that takes his tally to 55 goals in 82 games. “I know the goals are of course important, but I liked his all-round performances,” Southgate said of Kane, who missed a key spot-kick in the loss to France. “He was strong with both pairs of centre-backs that he had to play against and I thought that was a really good message for the team. “He was backing into players, he was aggressive with his play and I think that’s important for him. He’s got to continue to do that. “He’s somebody that I think it would be easy for us to get drawn into not challenging but we’ve got to challenge him as well. “The individual accolades are well deserved and are amazing but he wants to be part of a team that’s successful. That’s the drive with England for us to achieve that. “He’ll be just as happy that we’ve got the six points and put ourselves in a good position in the group as getting the two goals this week as well.”
