Postponement of 2020 Euro is blessing in disguise for England, admits Dan Ashworth
While the entire world is still dealing with a global pandemic, former FA technical director Dan Ashworth confessed that the postponing the 2020 Euro will be a blessing in disguise for England. The ex-official also backed the England squad to win the double of the Euro 2021 and 2022 World Cup.
The rescheduling of major International tournaments by a year has put the organisers in a fix for next year, especially with the 2022 World Cup starting 12 months after the Euro 2021, Olympics and the Copa America ends. Not to mention, the calendar has to make way for the FIFA Confederations Cup as well which has added even more problems.
But former FA technical director Dan Ashworth is of the idea that the turn of events might actually work in favour of the English football team. As things stand, England have a catalogue of exciting young talents in the form of Phil Foden, Mason Greenwood and also the 22-year old Marcus Rashford. By the time the international events kicks-off, the players would have cemented their place in the team and would have become even better.
“Putting it back a year wouldn’t be detrimental to England as they’re a young squad, compared to some aging teams. Tournaments being held 16 months apart, that will be no problem,” admitted Ashworth as reported by The Sun.
The last time England played an international game was in November 2019, when manager Gareth Southgate fielded the youngest playing XI in more than 60 years with an average of 23 years. Southgate can expect that the lot too peak in a couple of years which will give the Three Lions a good chance in the 2022 showpiece event in Qatar. Ashworth further admitted that having two tournaments within the space of a year and a half will improve England's chances even more.
“If you asked Gareth Southgate, Steve Holland and others involved with England’s senior team, they’d like a tournament every summer. They are competitive beasts and they want to play matches and win. The quicker they come round, the better. So I don’t think it will unduly affect England. In fact, you could argue it will be advantageous because there is less of a gap between tournaments.
“So, although Gareth will be really disappointed it’s not being run this summer, to have the two 1½ years apart, they’ll be looking forward to it and thinking it’s advantageous," he added.
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