"It's impossible to say anything to the players that will make them feel better," Southgate said. "I don't think when people look at the experience of the past 18 months that people expected us to be in the semifinals of the World Cup.
"But having made it this far we thought we could win. They [the players] have to go through big match experiences to win. If you look at successful teams, some of them haven't had success the first time. You have to use experiences to your benefit and become a stronger team."
As expected, Southgate chose an unchanged lineup from the one which beat Colombia on penalties and defeated Sweden.
Croatia brought in Inter Milan midfielder Marcelo Brozovic to sit in front of the back four, with Hoffenheim attacker Andrej Kramaric relegated to the bench. The move allowed Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic to push further forward, with Perisic and Ante Rebic providing width on the wings.
It took just five minutes for England to send their boisterous fans into wild celebrations at Luzhniki Stadium. Dele Alli was tripped by Modric on the edge of the box after clever build-up play by Jesse Lingard and Trippier curled the resultant free-kick into the top left corner of Danijel Subasic's goal.
England were posing an ever-present threat at set pieces and Harry Maguire frittered away a chance to double his side's lead by aiming a free header wide after a Trippier corner.
Croatia slowly began to work their way into the match with Modric pulling the strings in midfield and Ante Rebic providing a threat along the right flank.
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2020-09-15
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