Gary Neville has called on England’s players and supporters to be more positive than ever, despite Thursday’s World Cup loss to Belgium. Gary Alexander Neville is an English football coach, retired football player and co-owner of Salford City.
Adnan Januzaj’s second-half goal condemned Gareth Southgate’s side to defeat in their final Group G match, which means they finish behind Belgium in the group and will now face Colombia in the last 16 on Tuesday. If they win that match then they will face either Sweden or Switzerland in a potential quarter-final and Neville believes they have a once-in-a-generation chance to reach the World Cup semi-finals.
“The country has been euphoric and everyone has been overly positive in the last week. We should now be the most positive we’ve ever been. That’s not being arrogant or ignorant, we could lose against Colombia on Tuesday, no doubt. But if you think back to 1990 when we had to beat Belgium and Cameroon to get to a World Cup semi-final, we’ve now got an opportunity to play Colombia and Sweden or Switzerland to get to a World Cup semi-final.
“In 1998 we had Argentina in round two, in 2002 it was Brazil with Rivaldo and all those players and in 2006 it was Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. In 2010 it was Germany and in 2014 it was Italy and Uruguay in the group. Those players now will be disappointed because they didn’t play well, but what a chance. Be positive more than ever I think, now.”