World Cup 2018: Gareth Southgate delivers rousing speech as England heroes prepare for Belgium clash
Three Lions boss voiced his concerns after his exhausted team arrived back to the team hotel at 6am on Thursday
GARETH SOUTHGATE has delivered a rousing speech praising his players ahead of Saturday's third-place play-off against Belgium.
The Three Lions boss claims his players "care about playing for their country" after yesterday's heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Croatia.
The Three Lions lost 2-1 to Luka Modric and Co after extra time in the World Cup semi-final.
Southgate's men took some time to recover and relax after returning to the team hotel at 6am on Thursday morning.
And the manager believes the country should be proud of his players as they look to finish third in Russia.
Southgate said: "I don't think people fully understood the players (previously). They care. They care about playing for their country. They have real humility.
"They're on their way to being top players but they're not there yet but we can see we're progressing and really heading in the right direction.
"It's nice to be appreciated but it's about the team. It's about creating an environment to be best we can be, a professional culture.
"We've made a difference to people's happiness the last few weeks."
England have been getting ready for the clash, and Kyle Walker looked deep in thought in the cryotherapy chamber while his team-mates got stuck into their stretches.
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Speaking on The Lions Den, Southgate also admitted that his team are facing a huge challenge on Saturday.
He said: "We want to win the game, we’ve got a challenge because we got back here at 6 o'clock this morning.
"We have two days to turn it around.
The spirit of the group is really good and we’ve got to see who can go again and whether we need add some fresh energy into the team.
"We need to see who is ready to go again."
Kane, who has scored six goals in Russia, added: "It's a quick turn around and of course there will still be thoughts about yesterday's match.
"But it's important we finish the tournament on a positive.
"The boy are going to want to finish strong and that's what we are going to do."