England lost to Italy in the final of EURO 2020, but with the amazingly talented young squad that Southgate has at his disposal, he is hoping they can go one better and win the World Cup. However, winning the World Cup is much more of a challenge than winning the EUROs, so do the England team really have what it takes.

England kicked off their qualification campaign for World Cup 2022 in March 2021 and Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions will no doubt be aiming to top their group.

Having the team to a fourth place finish at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and runners up at Euro 2020, Southgate et al know that they have what it takes to challenge, but they will have to qualify first.

Of course, England’s World Cup qualification campaign was interrupted by Euro 2020, with Southgate’s side reaching the final, where they lost on penalties to Italy.

England could then assure their place at the World Cup with wins away to Andorra and at home to Hungary next month if Poland take points off Albania.

However, with only top spot guaranteeing qualification, there is still little margin for error particularly given that reaching Qatar with a second-place finish is not straightforward.

The 10 runners-up from the group stage will join two group winners from last season’s Nations League in a mini-tournament in March that will see only three more teams qualify.

England could still find themselves involved in that if things begin to unravel during the second half of the campaign. Poland could yet cut their lead to just two points.