Euro 2024: England v Netherland Preview

Transcript

00:00Hello from Signal Iduna Park. Malik and I are opposite the yellow wall where

00:04England will take on the Netherlands in their Euro semi-final. Gareth Southgate

00:09has just been previewing the match at his press conference and the England

00:11manager struck an upbeat note as you might expect. He talked about his players

00:15developing a new mindset in the latter stage of this tournament. He admitted

00:19they had been fearful in the group stage, the pressure was too much for them, the

00:23expectation from the outside, the outside noise got to his players but he said

00:26they were now focused on making history in the final week of this tournament. He

00:31was also predictably asked about the controversial appointment of Felix

00:34Zweier to referee this game, the German who's been embroiled in a match-fixing

00:38scandal in the past. He was publicly called out by Jude Bellingham who was of

00:41course a player here at Dortmund at the time a few years ago. Personally I think

00:45it's a real avoidable mess. UEFA didn't need to put themselves in this

00:49position but Gareth Southgate, ever the diplomat, said he's got no concerns and

00:53instead he'll be concentrating his energies on two big selection decisions

00:56really. Is Luke Shaw ready and fit to start and does he stick with the back

01:01three that sparked a bit of an improvement in the quarterfinal against

01:03Switzerland? I'm hoping personally that the answer to both of those questions is

01:07yes. And Harry Kane also joined Southgate to preview this match. The captain's form

01:11has been a bit of a talking point here. He's put in a series of sluggish

01:14performances but there's absolutely no doubt Kane's gonna start. He admitted he

01:18could be a little bit sharper in the box against the Dutch but he exuded confidence

01:23and optimism as always.