Declan Rice
Declan Rice has warned his England team-mates that they can not get too ahead of themselves after writing a new chapter in the national team’s history by beating Germany in a knockout game for the first time since 1966. The West Ham United midfielder shook off a tricky start in which he was booked for a foul on Leon Goretzka to go toe to toe with Toni Kroos, a player he has gushed over on social media in the not too distant past. Rice made a game-high four interceptions and tackles before being replaced by Jordan Henderson with three minutes to go, silencing doubts over his ability to mix it on the top stage.
Declan Rice said: “We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves. Saturday is a big game now, we travel to Rome and we want to win that and progress into the semis. All I can say about today is the fans, the players, how we were up for it before the game – I’ve not been apart of a team with togetherness like it. We believe we’ve got the quality and we really believe that with the tournament at Wembley we can keep progressing.”
Rice also made pointed reference to those who had doubted the team’s ability following a group stage in which they scored just two goals in three games.
Declan rice said: “It’s incredible. A lot of people, if you look at the group stage, had written us off for not scoring enough goals. You read a lot of it then put it to the back of your mind and want to prove people wrong. Tonight everyone had that fire in their belly. For one, knock Germany out and, two, get us through to the next round. It’s history – all the players have been asked about the previous games with Germany but today we created our own bit of history. Gary Neville was saying these things don’t come round often and we took the most of that opportunity and it was a pleasure to be out there.
He also reserved special praise for goalscorers Raheem Sterling, who put England in front with his third of the tournament, and Harry Kane after the captain overcame another difficult outing to convert the second. Many fans had been calling on Sterling to be dropped following a tricky end to the Premier League campaign with Manchester City but he has been vindicated by scoring in all but the 0-0 draw with Scotland.
Declan Rice added: “Raz has just proven so many people wrong, he’s crucial. And H, he’s the man for the big occasion. He ran his socks into the ground and scored the goal that put the game to bed.”
