Cool Jordan refuses to get carried away
THOUSANDS of England fans are flooding into the Russian capital and, back home, a recordbreaking TV audience is predicted.
Tonight’s World Cup semi-final is the Three Lions’ biggest game for 28 years. The Holy Grail is within touching distance.
Football’s Coming Home for God’s sake!
No chance of Jordan Henderson being affected by the hype though.
“There’s no need to make it bigger than it is,” he said yesterday, while a nation goes potty. That’s us told then. Perhaps it’s just as well that England’s outstanding midfield pivot remains cool, calm and collected.
We should be reassured that amid the mayhem and madness, Henderson is simply focusing on 90 minutes of football.
Just as he was for Liverpool when they headed to the Stadio Olympico with the task of defending a three-goal lead for the right to play Real Madrid in the Champions League Final.
Henderson does semi-finals pretty well and a repeat of that night’s commanding display against a fired-up Roma side will go a long way to booking England’s place in the biggest game of all.
“We’re concentrating on what we want to do and create,” said the 28-year-old, who has won over his critics in the tournament.
“We’ve taken it game by game and will continue to do that. It’s massive but we focus on the job in hand.”
Shout
The Three Lions have not lost in Henderson’s last 30 appearances.
The last time he finished on a losing side at international level was against Uruguay at the World Cup in Brazil four years ago.
He did not feature much at the ill-fated Euros two years ago, missed the friendly defeat in France last year and England’s final Group G game against Belgium when Gareth Southgate named a second string.
Don’t expect Henderson to shout from the rooftops about his recordbreaking stats, however. “Someone mentioned it the other day but, to be honest, I wouldn’t look too much into it because I don’t win on my own,” he added.
“We win as a team. Just as much as if I’d played and lost every match, it wouldn’t be my fault either.
“I want to win. We want to win as a team. But it’s not down to one individual. It’s down to the team, what we do behind the scenes, all the hard work to get here.
“The biggest thing for me is to continue to win.”
If it’s going to stretch to 31 unbeaten after tonight, then Henderson’s duel with Croatia captain Luka Modric could be crucial. The Croat had the upper hand when they met in the Champions League Final when Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1, though Henderson says that will not count for anything.
“No, because I’ve played against him before at Spurs,” added Henderson.
“He’s a world-class player, we all know how good he is. He likes to dictate, likes to drop deep and get on the ball.
“But it’s not only me, it’ll be the whole team that’s trying to stop him doing that.
“I’m sure he’ll have moments in the game but it’s about limiting them and concentrating on their whole team, because they’ve got threats coming from everywhere really.”