Gareth Southgate 90 minutes away from knighthood despite avoiding sack last week

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Gareth Southgate is 90 minutes away from becoming a Sir.

And that is some going for a man who’s been about 90 minutes away from the sack a couple of times in this tournament!

The FA can say what they like about wanting to give Gareth a new contract whatever happens at the Euros.

But he wouldn’t have kept his job if we’d lost to Germany and he knew it. He even said himself he knew he’d be a dead man if we’d lost that one.

You have to admire him because he’s done it his way and shown plenty of balls – and now he’s on the brink of making history.

Look at the unbelievable managers we’ve had before him. The unbelievable players. The unbelievable teams.

None of them got to a major final. They all failed. And Gareth has succeeded – with a team we can all be so proud of.

I didn’t think I would see England play in a final in my lifetime. I’ve seen some special teams fail to get there.

It’s mindblowing really. And this is a team that will be around for a while. Even if they don’t win the final, they have laid the foundations.

But they have got to go and win the final now. They have got to finish the job. They have grown into the tournament and are playing with no fear.

It’s a massive thing for the nation after a horrible year. If they don’t beat Italy it will be so disappointing – but they are all heroes already.

And it was great to see Gareth celebrating with the fans the way he did at Wembley. I played with him at Aston Villa and I’ve seen him like that at Villa Park. He’s usually cool, calm and collected – but believe me, he absolutely loves it.

It made the hairs on the back of my arm stand up watching it all unfold on the TV. I thought Raheem Sterling was phenomenal. He missed a sitter. And it was an absolutely atrocious miss.

But then he busted a gut a minute later to get back in there when they scored an own goal for the equaliser. He didn't hang back and hide.

Absolutely brilliant mental strength he showed to do that. But that’s what these players are – they are mentally strong. They are not weighed down by history. They are writing their own.

We weren’t perfect in the game and we needed to score that goal when we did otherwise we would have been in trouble.

Just before that, we’d gone, and they had broken on us and we were all over the place and it was getting a bit frantic.

But to then go and score was massive and after that we were the better team. It was poor management from the Denmark coach though.

To leave yourself with ten men for the second period of extra time when you have six substitutes was really poor.

England play in 20-minute spurts at the moment. We play some good football and then it drifts away.

But the fitness of the players is mindblowing. To see Sterling full of energy, taking players on, racing past people, right to the end – phenomenal.

I don’t think we’ve had an all-round performance yet but the last 15 minutes of normal time and the first 15 of extra time were the best we’ve played.

And Gareth will know what he wants to do in the final. All his decisions have worked as well – so we should trust him.

Taking off Jack Grealish after bringing him was a massive statement from Gareth Southgate.

He was saying: ‘You’re coming off. I can’t rely on you now we need to keep it tight.’

I was one hundred per cent shocked he did that. He put Grealish on to change the game and then once he had, it was back to the bench.

It was like an NFL kicker coming on to put his team in front, and then going off again. I felt for the kid.

That can affect you mentally when something like that happens in a big game. It’s big thing that. He’s a confidence player and you don’t want to make him resentful.

None of these England players have spat the dummy out yet about not playing so there’s no reason think Grealish will.

But you hope he’s alright because that will have been a real kick in the teeth. And he won’t expect to start the final now, will he?

That can be hard to take.

England must stop Jorginho if they want to beat Italy and I don’t think it’s going to be a low-scoring game.

Both teams have been so solid defensively in this tournament but they both have too much pace and movement up front so I think there will be a lot of goals.

We have to stop that Italy midfield if we want to win the game because it’s that that makes them tick.

It all starts with Jorginho, who is having a brilliant tournament. He’s been everywhere, and he controls games with his passing.

England need to get after him because three passes from midfield and bang, they’re in.

These two teams have been the best at the Euros for me. But Italy will be worried about England because the home advantage of Wembley will be huge.

Italy have looked vulnerable in recent games. You knew they’d be under the cosh against Belgium because they’re the No 1 team in the world.

But Austria gave them a scare, and they were on the ropes against Spain until they showed their resilience, dug in, and found a way to win. We can beat them.

• England Football Team
• Gareth Southgate
• Euro 2020
• Raheem Sterling
• Nfl
• Spain

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