It's coming home? Sheffield stars help England to historic Euro 2020 win over Germany
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For many onlookers facing Die Mannschaft brought up painful memories, from the 1970 World Cup to the ghost goal in 2010 as well as the Italia 90 and Euro 96 semi-final shootout heartbreaks.
But England’s players showed few signs of anxiety, nerves or baggage in the build-up or at Wembley, heeding boss Southgate’s advice to write their own history as Sterling and Kane struck in a famous 2-0 round-of-16 win.
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Hide AdThe din inside the national stadium belied the 41,973 in attendance and the reward for just their second ever Euros knockout triumph is a quarter-final clash against Sweden or Ukraine in Rome this Saturday.
England will head to Italy on the crest of a wave after digging deep in front of a partisan home crowd, with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford producing some important saves before Sterling broke the deadlock in the second half.
The 26-year-old turned Luke Shaw’s driven cross home to send supporters wild, but he was soon panicking after his loose ball led Thomas Muller to race through.
But the Germany veteran – who scored twice against England in their 2010 World Cup exit – inexplicably dragged wide and Kane opened his account for the tournament by directing home fan favourite Jack Grealish’s cross.
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Hide AdEngland boss Southgate revealed he had told the players after the game that he must be the “party-pooper” as they now prepare for the trip to Rome.
“It’s a brilliant afternoon,” Southgate said. “We talked about bringing enjoyment to the nation really and afternoons like this are what that’s about.
“The players were absolutely immense, right the way through the team and the fans were as well. Only 40,000, but it’s as good an atmosphere as I can remember at Wembley.
“We played extremely well. I think we deserved the win, but I’ve had to say to them (the players) straight away, look, ‘I’m the party-pooper because if we don’t capitalise on that on Saturday now, then it doesn’t count for anything.'”