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MOSCOW (AP) – The wine was flowing beneath the chandeliers of the luxurious ballroom of the London hotel when Gareth Southgate was painfully reminded of the most scary moment of his playing career.
Surrounded by current and former players, Southgate was trying to wait for his World Cup as England coach when he was retaken 22 years.
In the Grosvenor House Award Dinner address in April, Southgate had to endure the lack of penalty that led England to lose the 1996 European Championship semi-finals. , during a speech by Ben Purkiss.
Many athletes would have shrunk from the point of derision in an audience of their peers. Purkiss later felt compelled to contact Harry Kane to explain a joke at the expense of the England striker.
But Southgate did not try to hide from its own misfortune in the light of the world – from the self-proclaimed Pizza Hut publicity at the time to talking with the team about it. England now under his command.
"When something is wrong in your life," Southgate advises, "it does not end you."
You can even lead the national team.
The progress of the World Cup in Russia was assured by the shooting that haunted England for so long. A win over Colombia on Tuesday has brought the British into their first World Cup quarter-final since 2006 and has been the work of meticulous planning.
Teams in England have been charging penalties for years without being able to find a way out after an extension. The winner is determined by a strength test between an attacker and a goalkeeper separated by 12 yards (meters).
Much of Southgate's work has been to change the state of mind of a country that invented football but which has been marked by failures on the international stage, in outside the single title of the senior team at the 1966 World Cup.
Players had been told for years that the penalties were a lottery. Southgate told them that it was a process they could own.
"It's not a matter of luck," he said before the 4-3 shootout win over Colombia. "It's not a question of luck, it's a question of performing a skill under pressure, there are individual things you can work on, we need to know who is in charge, who must withdraw, who can speak clearly to the players. "
Not fearing failure was an important psychological obstacle to overcome.
Southgate has embraced its own public humiliation to help the current generation of players prepare to face setbacks. At the St. George's Park Training Complex in central England, messages and tactics were transmitted across the age groups of the England teams. .
Slowly, England gets rid of its losing mentality. The win in the U-20 World Cup in June 2017 was followed by the glory in the under-17 edition in October, and now the Southgate team remains on track to add a third FIFA title.
While former England teams may have backed off after conceding a timeout to Colombia, this group held up well in overtime and broke the curse of shots on goal.
Before Tuesday night in Moscow, England had been eliminated from three World Cups on penalties and three European Championships. The only success came in the Euro-96 against Spain before the defeat of Southgate in the semi-final against Germany.
With British fans outnumbered by Colombians in Moscow's Spartak stadium, it was an even stronger test for Eric Dier to make the winning move against Colombia.
"It was like an out of body experience," Dier said Wednesday. "I just tried to stay in the moment."
Southgate worked to remove the players from their comfort zone after seeing – as a technical observer from the UEFA – how Roy Hodgson's England froze under pressure and was eliminated by Iceland in Euro 2016. Players were taken last year. Royal Marines Commandos Training Center. An exercise at the training camp saw players submerged in the water.
"(Southgate) wanted to change the way we do things and try something different," said Kane. "Because lately we have not been great for England in tournaments, it is trying to change that mental attitude."
Southgate had initially rejected the chance to succeed Hodgson after Euro 2016, finding that he lacked experience, having only trained a senior team for three years in Middlesbrough until In 2009.
But after three years as an under-21 English coach, Southgate was eliminated in September 2016 by an unexpected vacancy when Sam Allardyce only held one match before his ardor and lack of discernment force the English Football Association to separate. .
At age 47, Southgate was excited to look beyond soccer for inspiration, especially when traveling to NBA and NFL games. He has retained his steel character while bringing compassion and warmth to work.
The striking image, perhaps, of Tuesday in Moscow was not that of Southgate but that of consoling Mateus Uribe, whose eyes were covered by his Colombian jersey after his failed kick. It's a reflection of the human touch that England's players expect from Southgate.
"We talked a lot about usability," said Kane, "and we have a great connection in the field."
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