Moscow: England manager Gareth Southgate believes his team is "nowhere near" the level they will be capable of reaching in the future, he said on Tuesday ahead of the World Cup semi-final against Croatia.

Southgate said that although England had made history in the manner in which they had progressed to the last four, there was the potential for much more.

"We have to keep improving as a team. This team is nowhere near the level they are going to be capable of, partly because of their age and partly because over the next few years with us and with their clubs, they are going to have more and more big-match experience," he said.

"We're excited about the future, but also we want to make the most of the opportunity we have tomorrow as well."

Southgate said England's dramatic improvement since Euro 2016, which ended with a humiliating defeat to Iceland in the last 16, was due to the FA's backing.

"We've got good support for the players and we've planned really well, watching hundreds of matches and learning as much as we possibly can and we are starting to see through the age groups some success because of that," he said.

England have reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1990. "We are enjoying the journey, we came here to enjoy our football," he said.

"We have been one of the youngest teams in the tournament and least experienced as well, and we were never quite sure how far this team would go. The hunger of players has been there for everyone to see. We are proud of the style they have played with.

"We have won a game in stoppage time. We have had to recover from conceding in the last minute, we have been through extra time, we have won on penalties and have made several pieces of history - the biggest win, the first knockout win for 10 years, the first quarter-final win after a long time. We are looking to break all barriers."

Southgate acknowledged that the team may have helped bring the country together in a time of political crisis. "Our country has been though some difficult moments in terms of unity and sport has the power to do that, and football in particular," he said.

"We can feel the energy from home and that is a privilege for us."

Asked what he would be demanding from his players, the manager said: "To be able to keep doing what we have been doing - play with real defensive discipline, good organisation, tactical awareness and then with the ball play with freedom and expression that we have and the same patterns that we have shown."

In keeping with his even-handed and calm style, Southgate said his team was neither complacent nor too pumped up for Wednesday's clash.

"None of us are satisfied and none of us are particularly hyped up. It is a game that is very evenly matched, we know what we want to do and we have to focus on our preparation and make sure that we control the controllable as we have attempted to do for every game," the manager said.

"We are just going to stick to what we have been doing all the way through."

Liverpool holding Jordan Henderson will be one of the first names on Southgate's team sheet on Wednesday. If anyone doubted that, they only had to listen to the words of Southgate.

"Jordan's a player who's been underestimated for a long time," Southgate said, with Henderson beside him. "He's an outstanding person, he has outstanding leadership qualities... He's at the top of his game."

• Kick-off: 11.30 pm (IST).

Agencies