Gareth Southgate is embracing the increased expectations and selection headaches as England begin the World Cup knockout phase with a tough clash against Senegal.
All eyes will be on cavernous Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday as the Group B winners play their first knockout match on the world stage since the agonising extra-time semi-final loss to Croatia in 2018.
England built on that performance by winning bronze at the following yearâs Nations League before going on a memorable run to last yearâs European Championship final at Wembley.
The heart-breaking penalty shootout defeat to Italy provides added motivation for Southgateâs players, who head into their last-16 clash with Senegal high on confidence.
âI guess the biggest thing is the expectation levels and the satisfaction levels,â Southgate said. âIn Russia, when we qualified from the group stage, we were probably more excited than we were this time.
âAlthough we enjoyed the win against Wales. Youâve got to enjoy your wins because, if you donât enjoy those, then thereâs not a lot of point being in this, frankly.
âAnd then, of course, everything was geared around first knockout win for 10 years, so that was almost our objective in Russia.
âWe have to take a step at a time, the same thing. We talked about that from the beginning of the tournament.
âOur first objective was to qualify from the group. We knew we had three games to do that.
âThere was an awful lot of noise after our second, but we stayed calm and on track, and weâve qualified as well as anybody else has.
âBut weâre now on to the more important part of the competition and weâve got to get this bit right as well.â
Southgate has some selection conundrums to consider on Sunday.
Marcus Rashford, who could win his 50th cap, scored a brilliant brace in Tuesdayâs 3-0 win against Wales, when Phil Foden capped a fine performance with a goal.
Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka dropped to the bench, while Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson also played well having been brought into the England line-up.
âItâs a good position to be in,â Southgate said. âYou want your players in confident mood and our forward players are.
âOf course you want to try to make the best possible decision, but in some respects Iâm not sure thereâs a right or a wrong. Whichever players we start with, weâre going to need the bench, we need the strength.
âThey all offer different attributes and itâs just trying to get the balance of the team right and make the best possible decisions.
âBut for us great that weâve got the whole squad fit and available, feeling good about themselves, but with that nice balance of knowing how difficult it was to get through this round in our last two tournaments.
âWe know the quality of the opposition, but weâve got belief in ourselves as well.â
Southgate spoke glowingly about Senegal, a side without star turn Sadio Mane through injury but buoyed by Februaryâs Africa Cup of Nations triumph.
âSadio is obviously an incredible player and every team would want to have him,â the England boss said.
âBut what weâve seen from the team of Senegal, theyâve become very strong in his absence. And they have shown great spirit through losing him.
âSo we know it doesnât make a difference to the level of the fixture for tomorrow.
âWeâve got to be prepared for the game and weâve got to be at our very best to be able to win the game.â
Senegal head coach Aliou Cisse was unable to fulfil his press conference duties on Saturday due to illness, raising the possibility of him missing the last-16 clash.
Southgate wished him a speedy recovery but fully expects him to be at Al Bayt Stadium, where the winner will return for the quarter-finals.
France are expected to come through their last-16 clash with Poland to provide the opposition, but Southgate immediately halted talk of a potential clash against the world champions.
âMy answer wonât take long,â the England boss said. âWe play Senegal tomorrow. Nothing else. Thereâs nothing else to discuss.â