John Stones spoke of his pride at the way England have built their success at the European Championship on a solid defence.
Gareth Southgate received plenty of criticism in the group stages as his side scored just two goals in three games despite a wealth of attacking talent, yet they kept clean sheets in each fixture and did enough to finish top of their table. That defensive solidity has continued in the knockout stages, with Germany and Ukraine both unable to breach the Three Lions backline to lay the foundation for a semi-final with Denmark on Wednesday evening.
Stones has been the only outfield player to feature in defence for all five games, and has already surpassed a record previously held by the great Sir Bobby Moore, whose best effort was four consecutive clean sheets. Five shutouts in a row is also the most any team has managed at the start of a European Championship.
The Manchester City defender can help his team smash more records as they aim for glory at Wembley this week; keeping Denmark out for an hour will see them break the Spanish record from 2012 of 509 minutes without conceding, while that team also holds the record for the fewest goals conceded (1) by a side that has won the tournament.
Stones has been noticed for how he and his teammates have celebrated keeping opposition players away from the goal, and is delighted to be able to set the tone for his national side.
"We've slowly got that culture and know each other's games more and celebrate it like it's a goal. Those little wins for us and for the team create a great energy on the pitch and it doesn't go amiss," he said.
"Those things set the tone on the pitch and get us fired up as defender. I think it shows the pride for us as players doing our jobs and doing them well and trying to keep this clean sheet run going. That snowball effect that I mentioned early on in the tournament, it is so important to keep clean sheets and have that platform to let the strikers or the boys up top show their quality.
"I'm so proud on a personal note and I'm proud of the boys around me as well."
