Gareth pleased with England progress, but not performance

The Three Lions knew that a draw or win against the South Americans in their final group match would be enough to take them into Sunday’s third-fourth place play-off game.

And they got the required result with a 1-1 draw after Cauley Woodrow’s first-half strike was cancelled out by a Colombian equaliser from the lively Jhonao Rodriguez after the break, but it was a scrappy match with neither team really being able to assert themselves over windy conditions on a dry and sticky surface.

England now go on to face Portugal in Avignon on Sunday afternoon, where Southgate is sure he will see a better performance from his side without having to battle against Friday’s conditions.

"The lads are a bit disappointed because they feel they should play better," revealed Southgate. 

"But sometimes when the conditions are like that, it’s so hard to play the passing game that we want to and they had to do what was necessary to get the result.

"The conditions were really hard, in the first half especially, when it was hard to even pass the ball along the ground because the wind was blowing it back and it was a really difficult surface.

Southgate watches his side in action against Colombia

"But again we started playing really well and then we just had to manage the conditions."

Southgate had spoken before the game of his intention to make changes to the side which faced Korea on Wednesday and he stayed true to his word.

And with every member of the 20-man squad having made two starts at the competition, he believes it’s been a worthwhile exercise and has also still resulted in an extra game for the squad on Sunday.

"We wanted to give everybody two starts in this competition, so we’ve done that," he added. 

"I think we deserve to be in the third or fourth play-off for what we’ve done earlier in the week and grinding out a result today.

"It’s a good challenge for us. I watched Portugal against France and they’ve got a couple of talented players and are very disciplined so it will be a closely fought game but another good experience for us."

Watch the full interview with Gareth in the media player above.