ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate is driven by the prospect of his side reaching their first-ever European Championship final as they prepare to face Denmark at Wembley.
Wednesday’s clash in London will be the second semi-final of Euro 2020 and Southgate is keen to end England’s slightly embarrassing record of having never reached the final.
“We’ve got a fabulous opportunity. It’s a chance to make history as we’ve never been to a European Championship final,” said Southgate, whose missed penalty in the shootout against Germany in 1996 prevented England from reaching the final on home soil.
“It’s not so much pressure for this team, it’s another challenge that they’ve got the chance to take on and at the moment they’re rising to those challenges.”
Denmark beat England 1-0 at Wembley in a Nations League fixture in October, and Southgate knows not to take the Danes lightly.
“We had two games with Denmark in the autumn,” he said in his match preview. “I knew what a good side they were before and they’ve proved that again in this tournament. It is going to be a fantastic game to be part of.”
England captain Harry Kane, who had found his scoring form after a slow start, is also aware of how dangerous Denmark can be.
“Denmark are a great team. We played them in the Nations League twice last year, and we didn’t win one game – one draw, one loss,” the Tottenham Hotspur striker admitted.
“But we need to try to focus on ourselves, it is a semi-final at our national stadium and we’ve got to use all those positives to worry about us. We know if we get it right and play how we know we can then we have a great opportunity to get to a final. It’s going to be incredible.”
While England have never reached the European Championship final, Denmark have won the tournament in the past, triumphing in 1992 when they were recalled as last-minute replacement for crisis-ridden Yugoslavia.
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