A shadow has been cast over Gareth Southgate's landmark 100th match in charge with England labouring so painfully… but he has a habit of laughing last, writes OLIVER HOLT

Gareth Southgate was 46 when he was appointed England manager in September 2016.

In an interview with the FA's in-house television channel soon afterwards, he sat in one of the dressing rooms at Wembley, fresh-faced, dark beard neatly trimmed, dressed in a smart, striped business shirt with a white collar.

He talked about how proud he was to get the job and how proud his family were, too. He exuded enthusiasm and excitement about the potential he sensed, particularly in the young players who were coming through the system. 'It could be very exciting over the next few years,' he said.

On Friday, as he sat down to chat about England's European Championship quarter-final with Switzerland and tried to bat away invitations to discuss reaching his century of games in charge of his country, he stroked his beard occasionally. There are patches of grey in it now.

'In a different time, in a different moment, I would be more reflective,' Southgate said, 'and I'm just so conscious that that landmark is not relevant for this moment. I've seen things like this when there's a big presentation before games and the focus switches.

'The game isn't about me. It's about the team, it's about me preparing the England team for this quarter-final and doing everything I can to make the team successful and the country have a fabulous night. It's something I will reflect on with huge pride in time, but I don't see that being in the next 10 days.' 

His manner is still appealingly earnest and unfailingly courteous but there is something a little more guarded about Southgate now, which is somewhat inevitable when a man has been subjected to the level of criticism he has faced after achieving the success that he has achieved with England.

But he was right. It has been exciting. England have enjoyed more success under Southgate than under any manager except Sir Alf Ramsey. Their run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, after miserable performances in their last four major tournaments, captured the public imagination.

Southgate, 53, followed that by leading England to the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley. His 100th game marks the fourth time in succession that England will have reached the quarter-finals of major tournaments in his reign, something no other European country can boast. Victory against the highly rated Swiss, who swept Italy aside so impressively in their last game, would leave England facing Turkey or Netherlands for a place in the final in later this month.

But a shadow has been cast over Southgate's landmark — he is only the third England manager, after Ramsey and Sir Walter Winterbottom, to reach his century — at this tournament because England have laboured so painfully to get anywhere close to their best.

Even though this group of players does not have the depth of talent that Sven Goran Eriksson could draw upon with the Golden Generation, England fans followed their team to this tournament in the expectation that they would win it.

The struggle to find any sort of fluency in their four games so far has challenged those expectations and if Jude Bellingham had not rescued England with his spectacular bicycle kick against Slovakia last Sunday, Southgate would have been booed off the stage, stranded on 99.

Most believe he will leave the job after the tournament so the match against the Swiss could be his last. Whatever happens in Dusseldorf — Bellingham, by the way, has escaped an immediate ban for making a crude gesture after his goal — the truth is that Southgate has transformed England's fortunes in major tournaments.

Before Southgate, England had settled into a miserable pattern of under-achievement at World Cups and European Championships. Under Southgate, they have become contenders again. 'When I took the job,' Southgate said on Friday in the only moment of reflection he allowed, 'firstly we wanted to rebuild confidence. We wanted the nation to fall back in love with the team.

'We knew there were a lot of steps to take to earn credibility around Europe, around the world again. It's ultimately for other people to decide whether we've done that.

'But here we are in a fourth quarter-final, which we're very proud of, given nobody else in Europe has done that. But we haven't come here to be in a quarter-final. There is obviously a missing piece we'd love to deliver.'

People love to criticise his game-management but for a manager who is damned with faint praise over his tactics, he has developed rather a decent habit of finding a way to win even when his players are struggling to get the job done.

When England played badly under Roy Hodgson at the 2014 World Cup, they were out of the tournament after eight days. When they played badly under Fabio Capello at the 2010 World Cup, they were demolished by Germany in the round of 16.

Southgate's record is rather different. The semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup, the final of Euro 2020, the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup and now the last eight here in Germany. He knows how to plot a route through a tournament. 

'People should remember that for eight years and 99 games, Gareth has made an awful lot of decisions that worked out,' David Moyes, the former West Ham manager, said in his newspaper column on Friday.

'The idea that he is lacking in terms of the tactical side is pure nonsense. When I look at England, I see a really well-organised team — and when I look at Euro 2024, I see a tournament where the well-organised teams are doing the best.'

So even if some see Switzerland as the favourites, England, under Southgate, have the pedigree and the experience. Southgate knows what it takes and it may be that his rumoured switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation is coming at exactly the right time to breathe new life into England's campaign.

Other groups might have fallen apart by now after a run of indifferent form and in the white heat of the tournament. That's what happened under Capello in South Africa. Southgate is too good a man-manager to have let that happen, which is why England are still here.

'You always want to be managing a team that are never beaten,' Southgate said of his players. 'They have actually shown tremendous bravery. People will question that but my point would be that to keep playing, and to keep trying to create good quality chances when you are behind in a knockout game, is very difficult.

'Ultimately, we could have run out of time the other night and of course the end would have been different but we are in here fighting and we have shown character, resilience in all of the matches, really — and in between the matches.

'So we are looking forward to the test. It is a good team that we are playing against and we have to be at our very best. But it is a fantastic opportunity to be in a quarter-final of a European Championship.'

Southgate is about to reach his hundred. Win or lose against the Swiss, he can walk back to the pavilion with his bat raised high in acknowledgment of a masterful innings.