England manager Gareth Southgate said his side must be “exceptional” to end a 58-year major tournament title drought as they kick off their Euro 2024 campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
England must cope with the pressure of being hyped as one of the favourites for the tournament as Southgate aims to finally steer a richly talented generation to glory.
Tens of thousands of England supporters have arrived in Gelsenkirchen, in western Germany, eager to see a show from their team after a shock 1-0 defeat by Iceland in their final warm-up match.
England are aiming to make amends after losing the final of Euro 2020 to Italy on home soil at Wembley.
Under Southgate, they have also come close at two World Cups and the England boss has acknowledged this could be his final opportunity for major tournament success.
But strong performances from Germany and Spain in winning their opening games have shown the scale of the task awaiting England.
“There are a lot of good teams in this tournament. We have to be exceptional to progress through the group and have the opportunity to go further,” said Southgate at his pre-match press conference.
“Our focus is to qualify from the group. When you’re trying to achieve exceptional things you have to break it down into chunks.
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“Our first priority is to get through the group and work from there.”
Despite a remarkable goalscoring record at club and international level, England captain Harry Kane is yet to win a major trophy in his career.
“Winning a trophy for your country would be the pinnacle of every career,” said Kane, who scored 44 times in his debut season at Bayern Munich.
“It hasn’t quite happened yet but it makes me more determined and hungry to go out and do that, starting with this summer.
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“We have the opportunity to go out and do that and I’m looking forward to trying to make that happen.”
England are expected to cruise through Group C, which also contains Denmark and Slovenia, who face each other earlier Sunday in Stuttgart.
