THE FLAG of St George is flying high in the back garden of the Trippier family home in Bury.
Just like the World Cup in 2018.
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And England defender Kieran Trippier expects his proud builder dad Chris to once again get a warning letter from the council over the 20ft high flag pole with ‘Trippier 2’ emblazoned across with a neighbour having once complained.
Yet his team faces Denmark in the semi-finals now hoping for a different outcome from the previous last four clash, against Croatia in Russia.
Trippier put England in Moscow ahead with a first half free-kick but they still lost 2-1.
Trippier said: “It’s up now. Maybe he will be getting a fine but I’m sure he’ll be sending the invoice to me.
“He’s proud as every other player’s parents will be and their families. He’s buzzing. He’ll be there at Wembley and just hoping for the best for me and my team-mates.”
England were just 22 minutes from reaching the World Cup final but Trippier is only looking forward to the big clash at Wembley.
He said: “There’s no regrets. The past is in the past. We are in a position now where we just want to create our own history. That’s all we want to do.
“But I think over the two years, the team has changed a lot. There are only maybe six or seven of us from the World Cup team. We’ve got so much good young talent.
“It is there for everyone to see the attacking players we’ve got. I think we’ve taken that step forward from 2018.
“We got to the Nations League semi-finals in 2019 and we are now playing Denmark. I feel we’ve made good progression over the years.”
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Tripper came into Euro 2020 on the back of clinching the La Liga title with Atletico Madrid and feels he has improved defensively under Diego Simeone.
Particularly if England revert to a back three, he could return to the side and play as a right wing-back.
But regardless, England have been impressive defensively and have yet to concede.
Trippier, 30, who has 31 caps, said: “It’s about working hard on the training field. We do a lot of defensive work. 3v2 actions or 6v4 where you are stopping crosses and your positioning is right. We’ve worked really hard on it.
“As you can imagine, when you are a defender up against Sancho or Rashford, Foden, Grealish, Calvert-Lewin, it’s tough. Bukayo Saka ran past me the other day and I felt like grabbing him. ‘Where are you going?!’
“But we have so much talent. When you train against these players every day – when you get on the pitch against the opposition, because the players we’ve got are world class, you are ready.
“When you train against these guys every day there are no fears. I spoke to some of the younger lads before the tournament and said, have no fears.
“Enjoy it because they are only around every couple of years, these tournaments.
“You need to enjoy yourself, just have that freedom and you don’t need to prove to anybody how good you are, just express yourself, enjoy it. That’s the most important thing.”
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