Curtis Davies: 'Route to final on players' minds'

As it stands, following the 1-0 defeat by the Belgians, England will face Colombia in the round of 16, and thus avoid a potential quarter-final against Brazil. Despite Southgate having dismissed claims that a win would've made life more difficult, he opted for a squad change-up on Thursday.

Davies, a former U21 England defender told 'Sky Sports': ''Naturally, you take one game at a time, and you really do, but you do have thoughts of a route, when it's a template like this where you actually know who you're going to play.''

''It's different in the FA Cup, where there might be some small teams in but you don't know who you'll face. Even if they don't say it publicly, some players will be thinking about the possible route to the final.''

''The players who are close to each other will be talking about it. But in football, no one wants to show they are too confident to people they don't really know, because otherwise there's a danger of coming across as thinking you've won something already.''

He added: ''They might say it to their close friends within the squad, but not too publicly - and if they did, I think Gareth Southgate would shut it down straight away.''