Gareth Southgate says England are ready to make history by reaching a first final on foreign soil, having been inhibited earlier in the Euros by expectations and louder external noise than ever before.
After topping their group in unconvincing fashion, the Euro 2020 runners-up needed a stunning Jude Bellingham strike to save their blushes against Slovakia before beating Switzerland on penalties.
England are now preparing for a third semi-final in four major tournaments, with Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands standing between them and a second successive European Championship final. Southgate has been criticised for his team’s style despite getting this far and the manager revealed the negative mood around the team impacted the players during the group stage.
“There’s been a definite shift,” the England boss said on the eve of the Signal Iduna Park showdown. “I was really interested (because) as a coach sometimes you take a step back and you observe. One of the strengths of us over the last seven, eight years has been less fear, less inhibition,” he continued.
“But I think at the beginning of the tournament, the expectation weighed quite heavily and of course the external noise was louder than it’s ever been. I felt we couldn’t quite get ourselves in the right place and, in the end, what was impressive was that the players ground it out, they ground results out and found ways to win.
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