Mueez Ajao
– England have “silenced” their pre-tournament critics with “faultless” performances on their way to the World Cup quarter-finals, says Declan Rice.
– Gareth Southgate’s side comfortably beat Senegal 3-0 on Sunday to set up a quarter-final against reigning world champions France.
– England have won three and drawn one of their four matches in Qatar.
Also Read: England haven’t got ‘the credit we deserve’ – Declan Rice
– “I don’t think we get the credit we deserve in our performances,” said West Ham midfielder Rice, 23.
– “If you look at other teams, like the Netherlands and Argentina, they win their games comfortably and they get called ‘masterclasses’.
– “With us, it always gets picked off. The negative things always come that way. If you look at the last couple of games, it’s been faultless. I think countries should be starting to fear us now because we’re a great team.”
– England have scored 12 goals in four matches in Qatar – the country’s joint-most at a major tournament, level with their 12 goals at the 2018 World Cup.
– They have also kept a clean sheet in their past three games at the World Cup – their best run of games without conceding a goal in the competition since 1982.
– “Going into the tournament, there was a lot of talk that we don’t score enough goals. That’s another one we’ve kept people quiet on,” added Rice.
– “There was a lot of scrutiny around the defence and conceding goals, but it’s been solid. We’re going to keep building and pushing.”
– Faced with the prospect of coming up against Paris St-Germain and France superstar Kylian Mbappe in Saturday’s quarter-final (19:00 GMT kick-off), Rice said England have nothing to fear.
– “These are the games we want to play in. They only come around once. England versus France, quarter-final – it doesn’t get bigger than that,” he added.
– “I’m sure the world will be watching. We really want to progress. There’s no point buzzing [about victory over Senegal] if we can’t push on and beat France.”
– Tottenham defender Eric Dier added: “When you get to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, everyone is going to be very good. It is to be expected.
– “No-one will fear anyone. They’re a great team with very great players – but so are we.”
