Declan Rice says England laid down marker with Belgium win | Soccer Information

Declan Rice says England demonstrated their high quality by beating Belgium on Sunday and has inspired his team-mates to take care of their “mentality” forward of Wednesday’s go to of Denmark.

England got here from behind at Wembley to defeat Roberto Martinez’s facet, who’re ranked No 1 on the planet by FIFA.

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The victory moved them to the highest of Nations League Group A2, a place they will strengthen in the event that they beat Denmark, with whom they drew 0-Zero in Copenhagen final month.

Requested if England laid down a marker by defeating Belgium, Rice mentioned: “Yeah, positively. Look, we knew earlier than the sport that they are the No 1 crew on the planet and that is the place we’re aiming to be.

“If you’re at worldwide degree, you need to check your self in opposition to the most effective. They’d world-class gamers everywhere in the pitch and clearly a pair lacking, however it was an excellent check.

“Proper in the direction of the tip we had been digging in deep. They had been placing the stress on however we stood agency, stood tall and at instances we performed some nice stuff, clearly scored two objectives. To beat them, the lads are delighted.

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“That is the mentality we have to get ourselves into heading into tournaments as a result of there’s going to be video games the place we will likely be pinned again, the place we have to present the grit, need to come back out on prime and provides 110 per cent each time.”

Southgate: We should again up Belgium win

Gareth Southgate has echoed Rice’s feedback by encouraging his gamers to comply with up their win over Belgium with one other optimistic outcome in opposition to Denmark.

Southgate believes England are unlikely to face many sides as achieved as Martinez’s, saying: “The standard of the opponent, from the again gamers and their use of the ball, the angles, the motion and the one-twos… we aren’t going to face a extra sophisticated recreation defensively, I feel.

“You’ll face differing types of challenges – counter-attacks, pace, energy – however they’ve a little bit of every little thing of their ranks, and in Kevin De Bruyne, they’ve such a particular participant.

“I simply suppose for us it was an excellent check, the type of check we want. That’s the great thing about the Nations League; you get a recreation in opposition to the highest-level opponent.

“Mentally and bodily, that might have taken an unlimited quantity of out us and we are actually in a state of affairs, a bit like in a match, the place we have now to again that up on Wednesday.”