No more excuses: England are the team to beat at Euro 2024

England are the team to beat at next summer’s European Championship. There are no more excuses or mitigating factors for manager Gareth Southgate and his team to fail again.

Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Declan Rice and Marcus Rashford are players who would be part of any national team in Europe. England have them all either at their peak, or about to be, as they prepare for their Euro 2024 campaign in Germany.

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England have never been stronger ahead of a major tournament. They have been overrated before underperforming in the past, but the team has now reached the point where just lifting the trophy would show they have fulfilled their potential.

France, with Kylian Mbappé cruising towards Group B qualification with a 100% record, and an emerging Spain side led by coach Luis de la Fuente will be serious contenders, but no European nation has the same depth and quality as England.

A victory against Italy at Wembley on Tuesday will confirm England’s qualification for Euro 2024 – a draw could even seal a place in the tournament – but the challenge for Southgate is not just completing the formality of exit from Group C. The English manager’s task is to ensure that he makes the most of the riches at his disposal.

It has been a long process for England to reach this position, having bounced back from the humiliation of a Euro 2016 exit to Iceland to reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup , then the Euro 2020 final – the senior men’s national event. team’s first major final since 1966. On that occasion, a penalty shootout defeat to Italy at Wembley deprived England of their first European title, but the disappointment of 2018, Euro 2020 and Last year’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to France in Qatar can also be seen as a springboard to success – if Southgate is able to overcome his own flaws to take England all the way .

For every team to be successful, certain basic elements must be in place. You need to have the talent and experience to win – England have both – and you also need to enjoy the chance to be on the rise when your rivals are going through a tough time.

With hosts Germany deep in a crisis that extends well beyond their group stage exit in Qatar – a slump that has forced coach Hansi Flick to be replaced by Julian Nagelsmann – and that reigning champions Italy are struggling to qualify, having missed out on the last two. At the World Cup, two of European football’s traditional powers do not appear to be challengers next summer. Meanwhile, the Netherlands are locked in a battle with Greece to qualify as runners-up to France in Group B, while Croatia lost the automatic qualification places in Group D with a defeat against Wales on Sunday.

France, Spain and Portugal look to be England’s most likely rivals next summer, but each of them has their own issues to resolve. Can France find a way to win without Mbappé if the Paris Saint-Germain striker is injured or suspended? Is Spanish striker Álvaro Morata capable of scoring goals against a top team? Can Portugal coach Roberto Martinez find a way to make his team competitive against heavyweight opponents while accommodating Cristiano Ronaldo, who will be 39 when Euro 2024 begins?

England’s big question mark looms over Southgate’s tactical acumen and willingness to be bold when the occasion demands it, but the old questions over England’s depth and ability to control a match from midfield have disappeared. Along with Bellingham and Rice, Southgate has the most fearsome midfield axis in Europe, and he also has the incredible goal threat of captain Kane up front.

Like France with Mbappe, England might struggle to beat top teams without Bayern Munich striker Kane, but Saka, Grealish, Foden and Rashford are all capable of hurting their opponents in a different way, so Southgate has alternative options in virtually every position. It also has two of the world’s best right-backs in Walker and Kieran Trippier, while an in-form Stones brings calm and authority at centre-back.

Southgate now finds a way to accommodate Tottenham Hotspur’s James Maddison as an attacking midfield outlet and Manchester City’s Rico Lewis, Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon and Brentford’s Ivan Toney (once returning in January after his ban of eight months for play) could still force their way into the team to add other interesting options before the tournament kicks off.

Defeating Italy at Wembley on Tuesday, having already secured a 2-1 victory in Naples earlier in the qualifying campaign, would be a symbolic victory for England after losing to the Italians in the Euro 2020 final. But they went beyond the need to achieve individual victories to measure their progress. It’s now about winning a tournament, and they have everything in place to finally achieve it.