England coach Gareth Southgate said it is the spirit of the whole group that sets his team apart as they booked a spot in the European Championship semi-finals with a 4-0 win over Ukraine on Saturday.
Two goals from Harry Kane and headers from Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson saw England through to the last four of a Euro Championship for the first time in 25 years, with Southgate hailing his side’s collective attitude as the reason for their progression.
“We gave a fantastic performance. Not only the players who started, but the players who came on kept the momentum going,” Southgate told a news conference.
“I am also actually thinking about the players who I left out of the squad and who didn’t get on the pitch.
“They have been such a massive part of what we are doing. It is so difficult to keep a group of this size involved, happy, feeling valued. And yet those guys have been phenomenal in how they have sacrificed themselves for the group.
“We are in the semi-finals because of that spirit. Of course the quality of our play is important, but I have seen lots of nations go out because they don’t have the spirit of these boys.”
Up next for England is a clash on Wednesday at Wembley with Denmark who beat the Czech Republic 2-1 on Saturday.
The Danes have had an emotional tournament in the aftermath of Christian Eriksen’s on-field cardiac arrest, and Southgate is aware of their quality and togetherness after the midfielder’s harrowing experience.
“We know what a good side Denmark are and they have proved that in this tournament,” Southgate added. “They are riding a wave of emotion with what happened with Christian as well.”
Kane said his team can take another step towards achieving their vision of winning a major tournament on Wednesday.
“We know it’s going to be a tough game. But we know as well if we get it right and play how we know we can, then we have a great opportunity to get to a final,” he said.
“A lot of us playing now won’t have the opportunity to have a big game like that at Wembley in a major tournament again. It’s an opportunity for us and we have to grab it with both hands.”
Maguire said England want to go further than they did in Russia three years back when they lost in the semi-finals. “I don’t want to be a party-pooper but we don’t stop here, we’ve got another big game coming up and we want to go further this time than we did at the World Cup,” Maguire told BBC.
“Of course it’s a great feeling to win here and the way we’ve done it as well, the big progress we’re making as a country, so long may it be improving and continue,” he added.
