Gareth Southgate ‘incredibly proud’ as England bow out of World Cup

“We are desperate to bring something home for the country – or win it at home”. “I am happy with where I am and I never cared what anyone else said, it only further motivated me”.

“There’s always a balance of decisions you make that you’re really pleased with and things you think, ‘OK, how might we do that differently?'”

But he failed to find the net against Croatia in Wednesday’s semi-final as England agonisingly let a 1-0 lead slip to lose 2-1. The former child refugee now earning 0,000 a week at Real Madrid. He ended Wayne Rooney’s England career early, while goalkeeper Joe Hart was a surprise omission from the 23-man squad for Russian Federation, opting for 24-year-old Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who was one of the tournament’s best players. Little Croatia through to the World Cup Final!

“We haven’t hidden in terms of where we see our progress, but we also leave here having progressed a lot as a team”. These were really hard times.

“And they should be proud of themselves because they’ve achieved an equal high in terms of tournament performance that any English team that’s has to come overseas for a tournament has achieved”.

There Belgium are unlikely to be a much-changed team and so will be among the favourites to first qualify and then go on and win a first major title.

‘I was mightily impressed by them.

“I would definitely leave my football boots behind on Monday if that was the price I had to pay to win for my country, to win for Croatia”, said Rakitic, according to Telegraph Sport. “I will be like that until the day I retire”.

“I need time to go away and think about that”, Southgate said.

Luka Modric endured a tough childhood.

“We want to play for each other – and we want to play for this manager”.

“We’ll be stronger then because of age and big-match experiences that build resilience”.

Who will take home the crown?

“There can be no better moment for a player or a coach than tomorrow”.

Those old Yugoslav teams were known as the “European Brazilians” for their neat technical moves that sometimes produced great play.

“We’ve been tracking the plane on an app all the way from Russian Federation”. There’s even a Floss one that Alli has done for his English club, Tottenham Spurs.

Croatia coach Zlatco Dalic (R) speaks to goalkeeping coach Drazen Ladic during a training session at the Luzhniki Stadium on Friday. The cold hard statistics of the tournament is that England ended up playing seven, winning three, drawing one and losing three.

England flew back into Birmingham on Sunday having finished fourth in the World Cup in Russian Federation.

In Slovenia, generally a Croatian ally but with a looming border dispute, hundreds of supporters are expected to travel to Croatia to join street viewing of the match on Sunday.

Modric has covered more yards than any player at the World Cup, registering 63.03 kilometers (39 miles) in six games, according to Federation Internationale de Football Association.