The Three Lions boss named the Bayern Munich centre ahead as a participant his crew might be seeking to hold quiet
England supervisor Gareth Southgate has picked Poland superstar Robert Lewandowski as the most important risk to his nation after the announcement of UEFA’s World Cup qualifying teams for Qatar 2022.
The Three Lions were drawn into a group of six alongside Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra and San Marino, with the winner qualifying immediately for subsequent yr’s event.
With Poland and Hungary more likely to be England’s greatest risk to reaching the World Cup finals on a seventh consecutive event, Southgate singled out Lewandowski, who was arguably the Ballon d’Or favorite for this yr earlier than the award was cancelled attributable to Covid-19.
The Bayern Munich striker scored a unprecedented 55 objectives final season as he led the Bavarians to the Champions League title and their eighth consecutive Bundesliga title.
“He’s a fantastic player and he’s as good of a number nine as there is,” Southgate stated.
“When you take a look at him, Harry Kane and [Romelu] Lukaku they’re the quantity nines you assume of as one of the best from round Europe.
“He is a player who can hurt you and his record for his country is phenomenally good. That’s the challenge we will face at some point but let’s see what the fixtures throw up tomorrow.”
Despite England being sizzling favourites to win the group, Southgate was wary of the fixtures in opposition to Poland and Hungary, with the latter just lately having success within the Nations League.
The Three Lions coach believes opposition gamers are eager to place themselves within the store window for the Premier League and matches in opposition to England are a superb alternative to do this.
“Everyone has a mix of teams, Poland are a very good side, Hungary just got promoted into the Nations League top division so those two in particular will be tough games,” Southgate stated.
“The relaxation might be video games that when I’ve performed or managed with England are difficult video games to navigate. Ultimately, it will likely be about what we do.
“Poland at Wembley and Poland in Poland is a sport with nice historical past. There was a interval the place we appeared to draw them each time so it’s historic just like the Hungary one as effectively.
“There’s always an incentive for these nations to play well, put themselves on the map and try to put themselves in the sights of Premier League clubs so there’s always a lot of incentives for the opposition.”
Despite lavishing reward on Poland’s talisman Lewandowski, Southgate was fast to single out England captain Harry Kane for compliments.
The supervisor believes Kane has grown as a pacesetter in current months and his management is beginning to have a constructive impact on the crew efficiency.
“Not only are [Kane’s] performances for us strong but his leadership is growing all the time,” he stated.
“He is rising with that duty and he’s recognising the second the place his voice and perspective and mentality to coaching with interactions with different gamers is having an enormous impact.
“So he actually is rising as a captain and chief. It shouldn’t be a simple factor to do. Captaincy is realized and management is realized. He has loads of pure components of that which he does with out even realising.
“I thought in the last few months in particular he stepped up in other areas. We finished with a strong performance and a lot of young players on the field [with a win over Iceland]. They look to him as an inspiring player to play for and with.”
The World Cup qualifying fixtures will start in March 2021, with the group stage to be completed by November and the playoffs to conclude the qualification course of in March 2022.
While the group winner will mechanically qualify for Qatar 2022, the ten group runners-up will go into the playoffs in March 2022, the place they are going to be joined by the 2 finest group winners of the 2020/21 Nations League which have neither certified immediately for the ultimate event as group winners, nor entered the play-offs already as runners-up.
The 12 groups will then be drawn into three play-off paths for one-off semi-finals and a ultimate, with the three path winners qualifying for the World Cup.
