Tripp to the top

LIONS MUST TAKE A MAJOR SCALP

KIERAN Trippier wants England to prove they belong at the top table of world football.

England climbed six places to sixth in the FIFA rankings following the World Cup and can now look down on Spain, Argentina, Germany, Holland, Portugal and Italy.

But despite their glorious run to the semifinals in Russia, England did not beat one of the major nations.

That chance will come on Saturday when England kick off their UEFA Nations League campaign with a clash against former World Cup winners Spain at Wembley.

Step

Trippier admits the time has come for England to step up with a significant win.

The Tottenham defender said: “We’ve talked about the different teams that we’ve played. We’ve played Holland and Italy, and drew with them, but Spain?

“We want to beat these teams, we want to beat the best and Saturday will be no different.

“We are all really looking forward to it, but we need to beat these sorts of teams if we want to be up there. Come Saturday, we’ll be ready and give everything to do that.”

England’s success in Russia has raised expectation levels and Trippier says winning Euro 2020 has to be the goal.

He said: “We’ve set the bar high at the World Cup with how well we did as a team and obviously we go into every tournament wanting to win it.

“Every opportunity we get, we always try to do the best we can for our fans and ourselves. And the tournament in two years’ time will be no different. If we get there, which we will do, we will go there wanting to win it.”

Trippier is keen to look to the future and not bask in

World Cup glory.

But he admits watching replays of his stunning freekick that gave England an early lead in their 2-1 semi-final defeat to Croatia in Moscow.

He added: “I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve watched it back about 100 times!”

“Obviously I enjoyed that moment, but even now it still hurts that we got beat.”