England manager Gareth Southgate has praised his team’s winning mentality when they sealed a place in the final of Euro 2020 with an excellent 2-1 victory against Denmark.
After falling behind for a wonderful free kick from Mikkel Damsgaard, England fought back and hit things up with an own goal from Simon Kjær. However, they had to wait for extra time for the winner, who came when Harry Kane fired his rebound penalty to send England to its first major final in 55 years.
The win started a party atmosphere inside Wembley, and after the match Southgate admitted that he had never heard anything like it.
“I’m so proud of the players,” Southgate told ITV. “It’s an incredible opportunity to be a part of, the fans were incredible all night.
“For our country … I have never heard the new Wembley like that. Being able to share it with everyone is very special.
“The most appealing thing is that we have given the fans and the nation a fantastic night and the journey continues for another four days. We have to enjoy the fact that we are in the final but there is another huge obstacle to conquer.”
Get the sound right NOW! ?
SO GOOD. SO GOOD. SO GOOD? @England | #ENGDEN | # Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/3a3qWUxACI
– ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 7, 2021
Southgate also acknowledged their joy against England’s resilience and pointed out how well they responded after falling 1-0 down to Damsgaard’s free kick.
“It will never be easy, the game the second night in Rome was, but we told the players that they would have to show resilience and come back from some setbacks, and we did that tonight,” Southgate added.
“I felt we would cross the line but knew we would have different kinds of battles. Denmark is so undervalued as a team; they caused us many problems.
“When you have waited as long as we have to get through a semi-final, the players – given the limited amount of international experience that some of them have had – have an incredible job.
Sunday. ? pic.twitter.com/pIqKQNuKhZ
– England (@England) 8 July 2021
“The most appealing thing is that we’ve given our fans and nation a great night, and the journey continues for another four days.
“In order for the team to get through this type of night, we suffered in Moscow on a night like this, we managed to fix it.”
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