Berlin: Germany central defender Jerome Boateng has questioned whether England have enough quality to excel at next month’s European Championship.

Despite having the world’s richest league, England go into the competition in France having not won a major tournament since landing the 1966 World Cup on home soil.

“England beat us 3-2 in Berlin (in March) but I do not know if in matters of quality and consistency they have enough for an entire tournament,” Boateng told German Rail’s DB Mobil magazine.

Roy Hodgson’s men came from two goals down to defeat the world champions in their friendly earlier this year.

“Spain, France and Belgium are in my opinion candidates for the semi-finals,” said Boateng. “Along with our team of course.” The Germans, who won the World Cup for a fourth time in 2014, have reached at least the semi-finals of every major tournament since 2006 and face Ukraine, Poland and Northern Ireland in the Euro 2016 group stages.

Boateng’s claim came as defensive midfielder Eric Dier admitted England must be a bit more ‘streetwise’ if they are to have any chance of winning Euro 2016.

England, who play Australia in Sunderland in a warm-up game on Friday, face Russia, Slovakia and Wales in Group B of the 24-team tournament, which starts on June 10.

“There’s a lot of European and international teams who have that intelligent edge as much as an aggressive edge in the things they do,” Dier told British media.

“They win fouls in clever places on the pitch, they keep possession, they know how to wind people up, they know how to agitate people. Streetwise is the perfect way to put it.

“I think the English are a bit too honest. We need to be clever but we don’t want to lose that English attitude either.”

Tottenham Hotspur’s Dier was named in Roy Hodgson’s 26-man provisional England squad last week.

Dier also said Spurs, who finished third in the Premier League, were keen to shrug off their ‘soft team’ tag next season, though he said his side had crossed the line on the day their title bid ended in a bitter game against Chelsea.

A league record nine Tottenham players were booked in the ill-tempered draw and the club handed a heavy fine.

“Things boiled over at times, but at the same time Tottenham are trying to get rid of a certain image at the moment and I think that helped,” Dier said.

“I think for a long time, Tottenham have had a certain image which I don’t think this group of players and this manager enjoy.

“Obviously we are trying to change that. It isn’t easy and it is going to take time but that is our aim.”