England play Croatia in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday evening
Monday 9 July 2018 16:06, UK
Gary Neville thinks the nation is right to get carried away with England's chances of winning the World Cup.
England are through to the semi-finals for just the third time in their history after strolling to a 2-0 win against Sweden in Samara on Saturday.
Gareth Southgate's side now face Croatia on Wednesday evening seeking to secure a first World Cup final appearance in 52 years.
Former England international Neville thinks fans should embrace the potential route to glory.
"Let ourselves get carried away," he told Sky Sports News.
"The dressing room or the manager won't be but when you look at the path, why wouldn't you get excited? Why wouldn't you feel confident?
"I said the same thing before the Colombia game - it's not me getting carried away. It's the expectation of: can we beat Colombia? Yes. Can we beat Sweden? Yes. Can we beat Croatia? Let's see what happens on Wednesday.
"If you're asking me a question in a one-off final can we do it? I think we can do it. If we had to play two big teams in close succession, that's very difficult. We should be grateful of the side of the draw we're on and grateful for the spirit and performances they're putting in. We should continue to show that belief against Croatia - we've got a real chance."
Both of Croatia's knockout matches is Russia have gone the distance as they came through extra time and penalties to see off Denmark and Russia.
Neville thinks England will be the fresher team on Wednesday night having had a less stressful quarter-final clash with Sweden.
He said: "I think this game is tough - the good thing is that Croatia had two 120-minute matches but we've not seen the best of them in the knockout stages. Against Denmark in the first part of that game they looked a good team but since then they've looked pretty average. I think we can get there."
Croatia boast a very strong midfield that includes Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic and there have been calls from some quarters for England to pick Eric Dier in midfield alongside Jordan Henderson to stifle the pair.
Phil Thompson thinks Gareth Southgate should ignore the temptation to shuffle his pack but Neville is open to the idea of restricting the space for Croatia to work in.
"Every team that has played against Croatia have done well by tightening up the midfield," he said.
"England only have Jordan Henderson as someone with a defensive mindset in the midfield although Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard both work exceptionally hard. We do leave some spaces in there and Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are very, very good. I think we have to get a grip on that midfield."
