Declan Rice
Declan Rice was a key member of the England team that recorded their first-ever knockout win at a European Championships inside 90 minutes and the West Ham man has opened up on the occasion. Rice and midfield partner Kalvin Phillips took motivation from being written off ahead of the clash with Germany and the pair held their own against Champions League winners Toni Kroos and Leon Goretzka.
Declan Rice said: “We had to fight for every ball like it was our last and I said in the interview after the game that we weren’t coming off that pitch until we won. That was the mentality of everyone.”
The day after the historic victory, Rice spoke and looked back on the win
Declan Rice said: “It has been incredible, [I] woke up today knackered, exhausted and reflected on what a night it was, not only for us as the players, manager and staff but the nation as well. We see all the videos, we see all of you guys celebrating and it gives us that extra fire in our belly to go out there and perform even more. If I wasn’t a footballer I would be there in the crowd so I understand their emotions and we give that back to them.”
As one of England’s two central midfielders, Rice covered a huge amount of ground during the match but still found the energy to chase Raheem Sterling across the pitch following his opening goal. Although the Hammer let on that Gareth Southgate advised them not to put too much energy into future celebrations.
Declan Rice said: “When we went 1-0 up Raz did a celebration that made us run around half of the stadium. We were all chasing him around and the manager has said we just need to stay composed and calm. We looked up at the clock and saw we had 15 minutes to go and we knew Germany were going to throw everything at us. We knew we probably needed one more goal and obviously that goal came and the place erupted. We defended so well, we were strong, Pickers [Jordan Pickford] made some great saves and in the end it was just such an amazing day. Probably the best day of my career so far if I am being honest.”
Next up for England is a match against Ukraine in the quarter-final in Rome and the quick turnaround means recovery sessions are paramount before the clash on Saturday.
Declan Rice added: “Today the boys are obviously on recovery, we had to come down at 11, we had a quick meeting with the manager about last night talking about the focus on the next game and then into recovery mode. We got into the pool as well and had a laugh with a bit of volleyball.”
Rice revealed that alongside the recovery sessions and treatment the England squad are keen watchers of Love Island, with some players switching on the minute they got back to St George’s Park after the win.
Declan Rice said: “We got back at about 11:30[pm] and a couple of people said ‘get Love Island on the catch up’, obviously the nation is watching the games and the only other thing on the tele is Love Island so we have connected with that.”
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka then jumped in and asked Rice to “not ruin in because I haven’t watched it,” quickly adding “Thank you,” after Rice confirmed he wouldn’t. Rice went on to stress the importance of having a close squad during tournament football.
Declan Rice said: “The group is so together, I think in a tournament situation like this it is so important.”
The West Ham vice-captain’s friendship with Mason Mount is well known, with plenty of jokes flying around the squad about how the pair would cope without one another during Mount’s coronavirus enforced isolation period. On the playing side of things, England coped admirably without the Chelsea midfielder and Rice survived without his best friend thanks to Luke Shaw.
Declan Rice added: “It was annoying not to have Mason with the situation and ten days isolation but it went really quickly actually. But then Shawry stepped up, we are really good mates so he stepped up in Mason’s absence.”
England’s win against Germany was wildly celebrated across the country but Rice is adamant the journey still has a long way to run.
Declan Rice said: “We know in our minds the objective of what we want to do. We know what’s there, it is in our hands and it is down to us to go out there and put in a performance.”
