England can top 'very special' 2018 with even better 2019, says Eric Dier

Eric Dier believes 2018 should be remembered as one of the best years in England’s history but is determined to make 2019 an even better one.

England qualified for the semi-finals of the Uefa Nations League with a 2-1 win over Croatia at Wembley. The victory came four months after being beaten by the same opposition in the World Cup semi-finals — the first time they had reached the last four of the competition since 1990.

Meanwhile, last month Gareth Southgate’s side beat Spain 3-2 in Seville, their first win on Spanish soil for 31 years.

Dier, who made his international debut in 2015, told Standard Sport: “2018 has been the best year I’ve experienced as an England player. It has been very special with what happened at the World Cup and now beating Spain and Croatia. There hasn’t been a year like this for England in a long, long time.

"We are now going to play a second semi-final in the space of 12 months and it’s fantastic for us. The most important thing is we use that knowledge in the best possible way.”

England now have the chance to win their first major tournament since the 1966 World Cup next June in Portugal, who have progressed to the semi-finals as well as Switzerland. Netherlands will complete the quartet at the expense of world champions France if they draw against Germany this evening. The final will be played at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao.

Dier said: “Our aim has always been just to win this competition. We are really excited now. We wanted to get through the group and it was an extremely difficult one against two top teams. now we want to win everything we are involved in.

“Beating Croatia shows the progress we have made since July. We are constantly trying to improve, this is just another step along the way. But we know we can get even better.

“We could have gone in two directions after the World Cup — we wanted to develop and build on it and I feel we have done that. At the same time, we have to continue to do this. Our potential is huge and it is up to us to fulfil it.”

England’s victory yesterday was all the more impressive because they were trailing to Andrej Kramaric’s 57th-minute opener. Substitute Jesse Lingard and captain Harry Kane struck twice in the last 12 minutes to swing the match England’s way.

Dier believes the nature of the comeback demonstrates a new mental toughness has been added to England’s game. He said: “We could have thought ‘there we go again’ when they took the lead but we stayed quite calm.

“[Croatia’s goal] was against the run of play but that is what happens if you don’t take your chances. In the first half we should have taken one of them.

“But our reaction to falling behind was really positive. We had a 10-minute spell where we were a bit out of control but we stuck in there and got two goals. Even when they scored, there was a lot of positivity on the pitch and in the crowd, who were pushing us on.

“Maybe that hasn’t been the way in the past. That is so important if the team is going to become a really good side. We believe in what we are doing. The manager has instilled that and you can really feel that within the group.

“To beat Croatia after what happened in Russia is very sweet. it’s a very different feeling to back then."