England are through to the quarter-finals of the Euros after a historic victory over Germany last night. The Three Lions downed their rivals 2-0 showing real quality all across the park to not only contain the Germans but also overpower them and claim a vital win.
There were brilliant performances all across the pitch. Raheem Sterling scored his third goal of the tournament whilst skipper Harry Kane also got on the scoresheet. Meanwhile, Luke Shaw was heavily involved in both goals as was substitute Jack Grealish.
However, at the heart of the victory stood Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips. The midfield duo have been hit by perhaps unwarranted criticism in recent weeks with the likes of Gary Neville suggesting the pair aren’t good enough to cut it at this level but yesterday they controlled the midfield against a dangerous German side.
Now England are being tipped to go all the way to the final suggesting that the likes of Neville have perhaps treated the pair too harshly especially when you consider Phillips regained possession for his side a whopping 11 times yesterday.
Phillips’ performance alongside Rice saw one of Neville’s old Premier League rivals take to Twitter to praise the duo.
Tony Adams won league titles in three different decades with Arsenal and was one of the finest centre-backs the Premier League has ever seen. He also made 66 appearances for England and was part of the famous Euros 96 campaign – a tournament many believed they could win until Germany dumped them out on penalties.
Well, there was no such heartbreak yesterday and Adams believed that was down to Phillips and Rice in midfield. He tweeted: “Congratulations to Kalvin and Declan who put up a fantastic wall of defence today and enabled us to keep another clean sheet.”
He then added: “Wish I had that screen in 96.”
Congratulations to Kalvin and Declan who put up a fantastic wall of defence today and enabled us to keep another clean sheet.
Wish I had that screen in 96 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/92qRPTvSo1
— Tony Adams (@TonyAdams) June 29, 2021
