Football is coming home tonight predicts Cleverley

Before England and Spain play in the Euro 2024 final, Watford head coach Tom Cleverley predicted that – Football will come home tonight

Cleverley, who has taken part in the FA’s International Player to Coach (IP2C) program, which was partially created by national team manager Gareth Southgate, believes the Three Lions will prevail even though this is by far their most difficult opponent.

“This is the biggest, hardest test we have faced by some way. It’ll be very, very difficult,” he said[Watford Observer].

“I think Spain will dominate possession, and they will be playing lots of short, connected passes and will look to progress through the thirds towards the England goal.

“I’m sure Spain will control the match, but we have exciting individuals and we might even be better suited to playing a counter-attacking style.

“And there are tournaments, like this one, where you just think that so many things have happened that it’s going to be our year.

“So I’m going England to win 2-1.”

As part of his participation in the IP2C course, Cleverley has spent a significant amount of time with Southgate. He feels that winning against Spain would be a reward for the effort he is putting into the game.

“First and foremost, having got to know Gareth I’m really pleased for him. It’s nice to see the good guys being successful,” said Cleverley.

“He’s not been stubborn about changing system in the tournament, and he’s found the answers to problems.

“I really hope and believe, for him and everyone else, that we can get the job done on Sunday.”

During Euro 24, Southgate has received a lot of criticism from the public and media, and Cleverley believes the England manager is being treated unfairly.

He remarked, “If I had his record in major tournaments, I’d feel hard done by with some of the criticism he gets,”

“Yes, he’s not won anything yet with a really talented group of players but there are six or seven nations that also have really talented squads, so to go final/quarter-final/final and still get criticism is incredibly harsh.”

Despite not having taken home a major trophy, Southgate’s team is full of players who have participated in and prevailed in important matches.

“Harry Kane will obviously be desperate to win something, and then on the other hand you’ve got the Man City players who have got into a habit of just winning trophies.

“As a country, the men’s national team haven’t won anything since 1966, so the players will have added pressure.

“But the Man City players in the squad can lean heavily on recent experiences of winning big games.

“I never played for England at the level that some of these boys are now experiencing, so it’s hard for me to say how they will feel as kick-off gets closer.

“But speaking for myself, I would certainly feel some extra nerves.”

Watford’s manager learned a lot from England manager Southgate.

In other news, Watford’s manager learned a lot from England manager Southgate.