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England manager Gareth Southgate said the eighth-final match against Colombia was the biggest match of the Three Lions in ten years.
Southgate said he was ready to accept criticism of the defeat against Belgium. After making eight changes, but he said that he had reached his "primary goal" by resting his players.
"It was a game we wanted to win but the knockout is the biggest game for us for ten years, and we had to" "Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and take some decisions that in some quarters might be criticized, but everyone understands – in the locker room and in the group – what we are trying to do. "
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"We do not like to lose and do not want to lose the matches, but l & # 39; main objective of the evening we have. And if we put Harry on for 10 minutes and someone had raked his ankle, it would have been ridiculous. The knockout game is important.
"Of course, we have a responsibility to the fans, and the support in the stadium was absolutely outstanding tonight, the support and encouragement from the house were brilliant.And a manager, you have to make decisions that are just for your group to reach the main goal.
"Sometimes these decisions will be criticized. I understand that. But only one person makes this decision taking into account all the facts and the management of a tournament: physically, medically, tactically for the benefit of the group.
"I am completely comfortable with the decision."
Southgate stated that he had no preference for his team's teams in the round of 16 even after Japan surprised by finishing second in Group H and it will face Belgium while England will face Colombia 19659002] "I think it's a game we can win but it will be a fantastic challenge for us, "he said." We have outstanding individual players, but we think we are a team that improves, we showed tonight that we still have levels to reach. " "We know where we are, how we must be immaculate to win matches against very good teams. "
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