Gareth Southgate urged England’s players to “be brave” during his team talk before extra time in their historic win over Denmark, stressing that the chance to earn a place in the Euro 2020 final would come with patience.
The manager’s words were recounted by Kieran Trippier, who listened with his teammates as Southgate exhorted them to stay calm and continue trying to unpick their opponents in a heady atmosphere at Wembley. England had finished the 90 minutes well on top against a tiring Denmark side who had been forced back for long periods and they were told not to deviate from an increasingly convincing level of performance.
“It was just: ‘We’re in a good position, we’re playing well, it’s about being patient with and without the ball,’” Trippier said. “And just to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ve got a brilliant team and Gareth was just so positive as he always is: ‘Just be patient and your chance will come.’
“That was all really. ‘Keep the ball well. Just be patient because our chances will come. And just be brave.’ I thought everybody was, and it’s just hard to put into words how proud I am of this team and everybody involved, the staff. They work so hard every day, and everybody in England has got to be just so proud and enjoy the moment now.”
England heeded Southgate’s words, turning the screw and eventually capitalising through Harry Kane’s penalty rebound. It meant Trippier, who was sent on for the second half of the additional 30 minutes as they sought to see proceedings out, could reflect on the progress made since the World Cup semi-final exit to Croatia in 2018. That night, Trippier opened the scoring with a free-kick for England before Croatia turned the match around; this time it was England who recovered from a set-piece blow and the Atlético Madrid right-back said the memory of Moscow has been banished.
“[That] is a game we’ve forgotten about, we’ve come a long way since the semi-final in Russia,” he said. “We’ve got so many good players now, different players from back then. It’s about progressing, and I think we’ve made big steps since the World Cup. As you’ve seen from the start of the tournament to now, we give everything, we don’t stop, we don’t panic, we’re calm. The togetherness in the team is incredible.
“It’s all about experience and game management. We’ve learned so much over the years with the experiences we’ve had, we’ve been in two penalty shootouts since Russia, we’ve been to extra time. Going through that moment against Croatia was about learning.”
Trippier hailed the home fans’ influence on a night he said was “like something I’ve never experienced before in football”. He continued: “We try to play good football, exciting football to put a smile on our nation’s faces. We’re in a final and it’s something for the fans to be happy about and proud of.”
