England host Holland at Wembley this evening, with the nation still on a high after Saturday's thrilling 3-2 win in Berlin.
Victories against Germany are rare for the Three Lions so they're always to be savoured. But Saturday's was especially satisfying because it was a young and inexperienced side that manager Roy Hodgson sent out against the world champions.
Danny Rose, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy are all still novices on the international stage but they played with a fearlessness that stunned Germany. Ever the realist, Hodgson has called on the media not to get carried away on the back of the win.
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"Let's keep these players' feet on the ground. Let's keep them humble. Let's keep them hungry to learn from their mistakes," he said.
There's every chance England could come back down to earth with a bump tonight against a Dutch side smarting from a 3-2 defeat at home to France on Friday. In a match that was as much a tribute to the late Johan Cruyff as a contest, Holland went two down within 13 minutes before clawing their way back with two second-half goals, only for Blaise Matuidi to score the late winner.
These are chastening times for the 2010 World Cup runners-up, who will be absent from this summer's European Championships for the first time since 1984. They have the talent but finding the teamwork is as much a problem for coach Danny Blind as it was for his predecessor, Guus Hiddink.
That was once also England's problem. The so-called "Golden Generation" of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Wayne Rooney promised much but delivered little, their egos proving impossible to manage for a succession of coaches.
The new group are more humble, more intelligent and more receptive to their coach. Above all, they have a manifest pride in playing for their country, something their predecessors rarely exuded.
"We're all buzzing," said Harry Kane after the Germany win. "Credit to the lads. We never gave in and what a night... It's a great night for England, a great night for our nation – 2-0 down against the world champions and that shows what kind of team we are."
Kane scored the first of England's three goals, the Tottenham striker pulling-off a "Cruyff-turn" in the penalty area that created the shooting opportunity.
Vardy got the second, with a delightful back-heel. When asked about his four-year rise from non-league to international striker, the Leicester man replied: "It's down to a lot of hard work now, which I am more than happy to keep doing.
"You come here [the England squad] and you have got the country's best players, but the good thing about that is they can only make you good as a player and a person so I work as hard as I can in training. If I can learn anything off these players I will try to and, hopefully, that will make me a better player as well."
Kane and Vardy's performances sparked what The Sun called a supporters' social media campaign demanding that "Rooney be dropped for Euro 2016". When the question was put to Hodgson, he gave the idea short shrift.
"Wayne, I repeat, is our captain," he said. "He has captained the team extremely well these past two years, taken us through a qualification campaign, where we had complete success, ten wins out of ten, so it doesn't please me too much when it is suggested the moment he gets injured and doesn't play, he deserves to be jettisoned."
However, the manager did concede that Rooney won't just waltz back into the side and will have to earn his place. "When he comes back and is fit again, he is going to be putting enormous pressure on these players, just as these players have been putting enormous pressure on him," he said.
The only downside to England's win in Germany was the broken ankle suffered by goalkeeper Jack Butland. According to The Guardian, the Stoke gloveman "will undergo an operation in the next few days" and has little chance of recovering in time for the Euros. Fraser Forster plays against Holland tonight while the side will be captained by James Milner, with his Liverpool team-mate Daniel Sturridge guaranteed his first start up front since September 2014.
