Gareth Southgate believes England are further ahead as a team than the World Cup right now

England manager Gareth Southgate believes that his side has made some long strides since the World Cup in Russia. After England beat Kosovo 4-0 on Sunday in the Euro 2020 qualifiers, he addressed the media.

"I mean, I would say that we're definitely further ahead than we were heading into Russia," Southgate said. "But we made massive strides in this period when we went into Russia."

"So, we've got to make sure that to get the level of performance next summer, we're going to have to improve in the way that we did over that spell as well. And I think the team have belief, for sure, you can see the confidence."

England have been brilliant in their qualification campaign so far. They were already assured of the top spot in their group but won the game comprehensively anyway. Montenegro were the opponents earlier in the week and England thrashed them 7-0.

After reaching the semi-finals in Russia, England have continued to grow under Southgate. They have a young squad which is gearing up for Euro 2020. If the qualification campaign is anything to go by, Southgate will hope to achieve greater things in the summer of 2020.