Embrace their position as favourites
To my mind, England are definitely the favourites going into tonight’s semi-final. They are a settled side who know their strengths and have improved as the tournament has gone on. Croatia’s form, on the other hand, has gone the other way.
They were brilliant in the group stages, particularly against Argentina, but have struggled in both their knockout games, needing penalties to beat Denmark and Russia. England will be fresher and look a stronger side, but how they handle that is key.
It is easy to get swept up in the excitement and look too far ahead. You cannot afford to do that, but you have to be comfortable being called favourites and with the public expecting you to take the game to Croatia.
It really is hard to believe that 10 months ago fans were spending much of their time throwing paper aeroplanes during England matches. The transformation is quite something.
Gareth Southgate’s leadership of this team has been incredible and I do not think he will allow any of his players to get too carried away just yet.