Henderson, Vardy ready to take on Croatia

Henderson, the Liverpool City captain and midfielder who injured his hamstring during the quarter-final match against Sweden has recovered enough to play on England's starting-eleven formation versus Croatia's Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic.

Henderson and Vardy, along with some of England’s fatigued stars, will continue to be assessed but manager Gareth Southgate is hoping to have a full squad to pick from.

The availability of Henderson will be key for England if it is to progress to the final. The Liverpool midfielder has been instrumental both on and off the pitch in Russia and he has not ended on the losing side in any of his last 30 international appearances, which is a record.

On his fitness, Henderson added: “I was just a little bit tight before the game, so towards the last 20 minutes I just overstretched and I felt it a little bit. But it doesn’t feel too bad, so hopefully it’ll be fine.”

Vardy was among the substitutes for the Sweden game and, asked how his groin was, the Leicester City man said: “Everything is fine.”

Rather than wishing to talk about his own influence and impressive personal record with England, Henderson was keen to stress how important Southgate’s vision has been for him and his England team-mates.

“That was one of the biggest things that the gaffer wanted to bring when he came in, to have an identity of the team and how we wanted to play,” said Henderson. “It’s hard to put into words really,” he said. “I’m just so proud of all the lads for how hard we’ve worked as a team the last few years to get here and to perform at this stage is important to us.

“Like you’ve seen, we are a very close group and that goes a long way in tournament football, when you have to dig in for each other. When you win it helps, the togetherness has been understanding.

“Not only the team and the first team staff but the whole staff. There’s a real togetherness, it’s a real close knit group as you can see when we are winning everyone is on the pitch.

“We are so happy we are in the semi final. It’s a massive achievement for us, but we’ve got one eye on the next game already and that’s the most important thing.”

“That was an open conversation from early on in terms of how the players wanted to play and how he wanted to play. We were on the same hymn sheet from the off. He’s really helped bring that identity out in us as a team.

“It’s important everyone knows their roles individually and collectively as a group. He’s obviously done that very well and the lads have bought into that. But we have to continue that.

Henderson could add the World Cup final to playing in the Champions League final for Liverpool and the 28-year-old is relishing the chance to perform at an elite level.