England centre-back John Stones is confident his team can move on from their World Cup heartache and get revenge over Croatia when the two teams meet in the UEFA Nations League on Friday.
The Three Lions silenced their doubters this summer as they reached the final four of the World Cup in Russia.
Gareth Southgate’s men were expected to struggle after being drawn against Belgium but they were eventually knocked out by Croatia after losing 2-1 in extra-time.
Zlatko Dalic’s side eventually lost the final to France but England can bounce back when they travel to Rijeka this weekend.
The game will be played behind closer doors due to a UEFA ban but Stones has backed his team to adapt and get the job done. He told Sky Sports:
“I think however we want to put it, we’ve got to play them no matter what. “I don’t want to say anything about the World Cup. I think we’ve got a new game, a new challenge in front of us.
“Obviously it will be a different environment for me personally and a lot of the lads without having any fans here, but that’s something that we can’t control and it’s down to what happened here in the past. “So, it’s a great experience for us all and hopefully we can put things right.
“We want to come here and show a good account of ourselves, show that we can hopefully beat Croatia and keep fighting in this Nations League.”
Croatia are 2.63 to win on Friday, with the draw 3.10, while England are priced at odds of 2.75.
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