John Barnes sends England warning: Its harder to win European Championship than the World Cup

John Barnes sends England warning: Its harder to win European Championship than the World Cup
John Barnes has warned England they will face an even tougher task to end over 50 years of hurt at Euro 2020 than they faced at the World Cup in Russia.Expectation is high after the Three Lions run to the World Cup semi-finals last summer, which saw supporters fall in love with their national team again after decades of disappointment.And, with Wembley Stadium confirmed to host both semi-final games AND the final, many are tipping Gareth Southgates men as one of the favourites for the title.GETTY2

Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick in England’s opening qualifier

England kicked off their qualification campaign in fine style with a 5-0 victory over the Czech Republic last week, and another victory is expected when they travel to take on Montenegro on Monday night – which is LIVE on talkSPORT!

THIS WEEK ON talkSPORT

• MONDAY 25TH MARCH19:45Montenegrov England – Euro 2020 Qualifier –talkSPORT19:45 France v Iceland – Euro 2020 Qualifier –talkSPORT 2
• TUESDAY 26TH MARCH19:45 Czech Republic v Brazil – International Friendly –talkSPORT 2
• FRIDAY 29TH MARCH20:00 West Brom v Birmingham – Championship –talkSPORT 2
• SATURDAY 30TH MARCH15:00 Brighton v Southampton – Premier League –talkSPORT 217:30 West Ham v Everton – Premier League –talkSPORT

But, Barnes has urged fans not to set the team up for a fall, telling the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast: Its much harder to win the European Championships than the World Cup.Russia gave us a taste of how competitive next years tournament could be. Of the eight teams that progressed to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, only two Brazil and Uruguay were from outside of Europe, and both failed to progress to the semis.England, meanwhile, were given a straightforward route through to the knock-out stages and failed to beat any of the top opposition they faced, having lost against Belgium in their group and suffered a semi-final exit to Croatia, before again losing to Belgium in a third place play-off.2

England suffered World Cup heartbreak against Croatia, but their run to the semi-finals got fans on side again

Barnes added: In the World Cup, as England showed, you can get in a group with Tunisia and Panama which means you go through, then you get to play against a weakened ColombiaWhereas any team who qualifies for the Euros are a strong team, and any team that goes through to the last 16 is going to be even stronger, so I would argue that its harder to win.The first two times we came up against decent teams at the World Cup, Belgium and Croatia, we lost. So we cant expect to win the European Championships. Its going to be a difficult competition.You cant ask any more from Gareth. I think well qualify and qualify well, I think well go through the group and then, depending on who we get in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, I think we can go on as we could have in the World Cup.

Listen back to John Barnes on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast IN FULL above

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