Fans are right to dream we can go all the way, says ex-England striker Ian Wright
Ian Wright on England's chances to progress far in Euro 2020
Ian Wright believes England fans are right to dream they can go all the way in Euro 2020 after their magnificent 2-0 win against Germany in the last 16.
Speaking exclusively to ITV News, he said England tend to be told they're 'lucky' in tournaments or that the opposition was 'poor.'
He said: "When you look at the teams that have gone out for example France are out, Holland are out, Germany are out and Portugal are out. You have to say that we have a chance.
"We're not conceding, we're gaining more and more confidence and momentum and we've got a player in Raheem Sterling.
"So we have to be confident of trying to go as far as we can."
The former England striker said England fans can be treated unfairly and should be able to be excited about progressing to the quarter finals.
He said: "The problem we have as English fans is that every other fan can be excited about winning, every other fan can be excited for getting to the next round.
"But for English fans, when we get excited everyone says 'oh, it's because you got an easy draw' or 'it's because you're lucky' or 'because there was a poor German side'.
"We never get a chance to enjoy the moment of us going to the next stage.
"I believe we should, as England fans we should just enjoy it as it's happening because I feel for once we've got a team that can probably go a lot further.
"We can get to the final of this tournament."
England had not beaten Germany in a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup, so the win meant 'everything' to Wright.
He said: "It meant everything to me. To finally beat Germany in a game and a tournament, after all we know the Germans are mentally very strong.
"I was worried, if you think about all the times that they've beaten us, so it meant everything to me for us to finally get over the line and beat them."
He was impressed with many players' performances on Tuesday night and believes captain Harry Kane, after his header sealed the 2-0 win, is right to be included in that list.
Wright said: "The standout players for me obviously includes Harry Kane after the stick he’s been getting. He came up with his goal tonight."
He credits first goalscorer Sterling, who tapped in Luke Shaw’s effortless low cross to score in the 75th minute, for also keeping his cool off the pitch.
He says he has received unfair press in the past: "Raheem Sterling has to take a lot of credit for the amount of negativity that he had coming into the tournament. But he's answered every single question up to this point."
According to Wright, other players should also be praised: "I think Luke Shaw with his delivery for the goals and Jack Grealish coming on and doing well.
"I think Kalvin Phillips, John Stones, I think we had a lot of players.
"I'm also pleased with Harry Maguire, we need him with the way he progresses the ball.
"I think Jordan Pickford for me is turning into one of the stars. He saved us today and I know it's his job but he did save us.
"I think he's got an attitude about him where he feels a lot more composed, a lot more confident and a lot more calmer. He's got to get a lot of credit."
With England not conceding any goals during the Euro 2020 tournament so far, Wright is convinced manager Gareth Southgate is the man for the job.
He said: "The performance tonight tell us about Gareth as a manager. I think we've got a manager that's very much his own man and does what he wants to do.
"Every single team he picks is up for scrutiny and everyone thinks they're an England manager!
"Everybody thinks that this one should have played or that one should have played. But up to this point, Gareth hasn't got it wrong.
"The team hasn't conceded a goal.
"We've looked quite solid apart from the Scotland game where we looked nervy but now you can see that we've got players who can hurt teams on the break.
"The main thing is not conceding, that's how you win these tournaments, by not conceding."