Garry Southgate and his England team bounced back from a disappointing draw against the USA to beat their neighbouring rivals Wales and secure their place in the next round of games. The draw against the USA raised questions about Garry Southgate’s selection process and tactical understanding, but these were shut down with the dominant display over the Welsh team.

In the game against Wales, Southgate took full advantage of England’s quality depth, replacing Sterling, Saka, Mount and Trippier with Rashford, Foden, Henderson and Walker. His high-risk move was rewarded with high reward, with goals from the Manchester boys, Rashford and Foden, securing the win.

Although some could argue that it was against a Wales team that were the “whipping boys” of the group, the win could also be seen as a testament to Southgate’s awareness of weaknesses within the team and ability to fix them immediately. As good as this may seem, England are entering a stage in the competition where there are no chances to correct any weaknesses.

England would face Senegal - the runners-up of group A - who, without their talisman, have shown great resilience in this competition. They bounced back from an opening game loss against the Netherlands to qualify in second place, beating Ecuador, who had an equally fantastic campaign. Senegal have shown that they can take full advantage of any loss of concentration, and England would need to be 100% for the entire 90 minutes plus the additional time that might be played.

Southgate would be hoping that his team could imitate the defensive solidity shown in the last two games and the attacking fluency demonstrated in the first and last games of the group stage. The performance of his players in the group stage will leave him with questions to answer, and if he is to have a tournament as good as his previous two, then these answers have to come fast.

He’s left to decide whether he should stick with his most trusted team, picks his best team or strike a balance to create his most efficient team. He does this, and it might come home for the Three Lions.