Gareth Southgate says his England side are ready to go to the wire again tonight, insisting fatigue will not wreck their bid to reach an historic second straight European Championship Final.
The Three Lions meet Holland in their semi-final here seeking to become the first England men's team to make the final of a major tournament overseas, but must also overcome fears of burnout after a rollercoaster journey.
Southgate's men needed extra-time to overcome Slovakia in the last 16 and then went to a penalty shootout against Switzerland in last Saturday's quarter-final, while the Dutch have come through each of their knockout games inside 90 minutes.
England also arrived in Germany with concerns about the workload and fitness of key players such as Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka, but Southgate says his side have taken lessons from their deep runs at recent tournaments and will be ready to go to the well again this evening.
"All of the games of the latter stages are quick turnarounds, and we've learned from going the distance in two tournaments already [that] the physical demands are really high," Southgate said. "We have a better understanding of that than when we were in Russia [at the 2018 World Cup]. We didn't fully appreciate how much of a demand that was.
"It's been factored into all our operations for the last few years. For not just managing the day to day, but the weeks we've been away, managing staff energy, managing players' energy. We cover all of those things."
England benefited from a five-day gap between the last 16 and quarter-final, but are now in the middle of what would be three crucial matches in nine days were they to reach Sunday's final against Spain in Berlin.
"It's a strange thing where in the biggest games you get less time to prepare and less time to recover," said Southgate, who admitted temperatures in excess of 30 degrees in Germany yesterday had added another layer of complication to his planning.
"You would assume in the biggest matches you get the best preparation, but we haven't really been able to get on the training pitch, you're just walking through things or covering things in meetings, so there is a different physical aspect now, but all of the players are going into this game in good condition, have recovered well."
I know the sort of changes we would make to accelerate the game, you just have to have a feel of the flow of the game
Southgate has used a relatively small pool of players in his starting line-ups throughout the tournament, never making more than one change from game to game, and is expected to stick with that method tonight, with Marc Guehi set to return from suspension in place of Ezri Konsa.
That would mean Kieran Trippier keeping his place at left wing-back, with Luke Shaw to be used off the bench, despite declaring himself fit to start after finally recovering from a hamstring problem.
Southgate's hesitancy in using his substitutes has also drawn criticism this summer, with the 53-year-old making changes in the quarter-final only after Switzerland had gone ahead with 15 minutes of normal time to play. Speaking at Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park last night, however, the England boss defended his approach.
"We've kept a consistent team and I think the team have thrived through that support, the confidence that's given them," he said.
"I understand people will question when you don't change, but sometimes you feel you are still posing a threat, controlling a game, and I've seen a lot of other big managers hold their nerve and wait a really long time.
"I don't think you can premeditate things. I certainly know the sort of changes we would make to accelerate the game and you just have to try to have a feel of the flow of the game when it's happening."
