Aston Villa star Jack Grealish has been refreshingly honest about his confidence in England’s chances as the final stages of Euro 2020 approach, describing it as “scary” how good the six wide forwards in the squad are, including himself.
England face Ukraine in Rome for a place in the semi-finals at Wembley against either a Czech side they have already beaten in the tournament or Denmark.
Although defensive resilience has so far supported England’s progress in the competition – they have not conceded a goal in four games – the attacking quality at Gareth Southgate’s disposal has given the team an X-factor every time they need it.
Raheem Sterling has scored in all three victories in England, while Grealish has made a difference from the bench against Germany and Bukayo Saka has impressed in both of his appearances. The options for Southgate are so deep that Jadon Sancho, now a £ 73 million player and the second most expensive Englishman of all time, has barely even landed on the pitch yet.
Raheem Sterling has scored three of England’s four goals at Euro 2020 / Marc Atkins / Getty Images
“We have six players playing each side of Harry Kane who can actually play for most clubs in the world,” Grealish told the Daily Mail to Ukraine.
Myself, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka. It’s scary how good we sex are. It’s not to be big or nothing. It is just the truth. ”
England are bidding to reach their first international since 1966 and, with the knockout grip as it is, have undoubtedly already completed the most difficult challenge of achieving it by beating Germany.
The last 16 victory was England’s first knockout victory against a German side in 55 long years and Grealish admitted that he saw the game again the same night.
Grealish insists England beat Germany better than people credit / Markus Gilliar / Getty Images
“I was not allowed to sleep until four o’clock. So yeah, I just beat the game. Fantastic, really. What a night. What that means has filtered through, he explained.
“We knew we could do it. I saw some say it was an average German side. I do not think it was at all. Now we need to focus on the next challenge. ”
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