Despite scoring in England’s 2-0 World Cup quarter-final victory over Sweden, Dele Alli was not pleased with his performance in the match.
The Tottenham midfielder who has been struggling with a thigh injury throughout the tournament, failed to make his mark on the game in the first-half. But scored the winning goal, heading home a Jesse Lingard cross to send England into the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990.
But although the Three Lions progressed and Alli scored for the first time in Russia, he felt he could have done more to impact the match.
“It’s always nice to score, especially on occasions like this. I don’t feel it was my best performance on the pitch, but to get a goal is unbelievable and getting to the semi-final for the team and the country is an amazing feeling,” the 22-year-old told the BBC.
“It was a real graft. It was important we had belief in the gameplan, played the way we want to play and how we know we can play, dominated possession, but be patient as well. Sweden have proved in the other games that they are difficult to lay against us.”
“It’s a great achievement for the team. We owed it for the fans at home, how they have all been supporting us. It’s a great performance,” he added.
Also Read: World Cup 2018: England beat Sweden 2-0 to advance into the semi-finals
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford who was England’s hero in the shoot-out against Colombia, once again stepped-up, saving all three of Sweden’s shots on target. He twice kept Marcus Berg away from scoring and also pulled out a brilliant low-save off Viktor Claesson, to seal the victory.
“He proved in the last game how big he is for this team and he’s proved it again today. We’ll be celebrating together,” said Alli.