Football news - Alan Shearer believes England have golden opportunity to win Euro 2020 after Germany victory
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 30/06/2021 at 07:40 GMT
With England playing most of their games at Wembley and the elimination of France and Portugal, Alan Shearer believes England will never have a better opportunity to win the European Championships after beating Germany 2-0. Rio Ferdinand also praised Gareth Southgate for his tactics to beat the Germans at Wembley.
'We are writing history' - Southgate after historic win over Germany
Alan Shearer believes England will never have a "better opportunity" of winning the European Championships following their 2-0 win over Germany at Wembley.
The victory puts the Three Lions into Saturday's quarter-final in Rome against either Ukraine or Sweden.
And with the semi-finals and final scheduled to be held at Wembley and the elimination of favourites France and reigning champions Portugal, Shearer said this is a golden opportunity for Gareth Southgate to lift the trophy.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/06/29/3163985-64835428-2560-1440.jpg)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 29: Gareth Southgate of England during the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Round of 16 match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium on June 29, 2021 in London, England.
Image credit: Getty Images
Speaking on the BBC, he said: "If you could have picked something like that [draw] then you would have.
"As I said before the game there's a lot of talk saying we can't finish top because we might play France or Portugal or whoever.
"We've beaten Germany and we've done it in an impressive way today.
"The draw is decent I would say. England will never ever, ever have a better opportunity of winning the Euros than this opportunity now.
"They're at Wembley, I know they go away for the next game but if they're lucky enough to get to a final that would have been six games at Wembley and you can't ask for any more than that with an atmosphere like this."
Former England striker Shearer also believes the victory over Joachim Low's side was the perfect response to criticism of Southgate for being too conservative in his tactics.
He added: "There was plenty of impatient people in this stadium shouting for more forward players.
"He had his game plan, he put [Jack] Grealish on at the right time.
"It was dogged performance, they did what they had to."
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/06/29/3163979-64835308-2560-1440.jpg)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 29: Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and Jordan Henderson of England celebrate their side's victory after the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Round of 16 match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium on June 29, 2021 in London, Englan
Image credit: Getty Images
Former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand also praised Southgate for his tactics and bringing on Grealish in the second half.
He said: "In terms of character, everyone was saying Southgate is negative, conservative.
"He has a game plan to be hard to beat.
"He made good substitutions, he brought Grealish on and he played a part for the second goal."
Ferdinand is also confident that England can win their first major tournament since 1966.
"This feels like its going to be our tournament. Things are falling into place for us.
"We are also making our own luck, we are hard to beat."
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement