Exclusive: Ex-England and Man United star reveals key factor that could see Three Lions beat Norway

England’s heroic and hard-fought 3-2 victory over Mexico in the Estadio Azteca earned them a place in the World Cup quarter-finals – and according to a former England defender who’s made the last eight of the tournament himself, it could also give them the confidence required to go further still.

Former Manchester United star Wes Brown, a member of England’s squad in the 2002 World Cup, spoke exclusively to 3 Added Minutes in partnership with betTOM and explained why the Three Lions should be “proud” of their work – and why it proved that they had the mental strength required to keep their run going.

Wes Brown: England can be ‘proud’ of their defence

Reduced to 10 men for most of the second half after Jarell Quansah’s red card, England put in a colossal rearguard performance to defend their lead and become the first team ever to beat Mexico in the Azteca at the World Cup – and Brown was impressed by what he saw.

“It wasn’t smooth and all roses in the later parts of the game,” Brown told 3 Added Minutes. “But that’s when you want the defenders to come out and be committed 100%, and think that [England] were.

“That’s what you expect from the players. You know in the last 20 minutes that they’re going to throw everything at you. Every single thing was blocked by somebody, somewhere, whether it was a head, a back or a leg. I think we can be proud of that.”

Despite being a man down for much of the game, England successfully repelled wave after wave of Mexican attacks to seal a famous victory in the same stadium in which Diego Maradona once condemned them to defeat in the 1986 World Cup.

Not only did England’s defence keep their team in the tournament and tee up a quarter-final against Norway, but they also put a string of unconvincing performances in the earlier rounds behind them – and Brown, who made 23 appearances for England over the course of his career, believes that the psychological impact that their display against Mexico will have could be significant.

“It will give them confidence. I don’t think it’s been smooth sailing, I don’t think we’ve been really pretty to watch, but at the same time we showed that we’ve got some of the best players in the world… The trust that they have in each other is very high.”

Do England have the mental strength to win the World Cup?

Earlier in the tournament, the defence had looked likely to be England’s weakness. They had struggled to cope with Croatia’s high press in their opening group stage game and then looked vulnerable to the counter-attack against Ghana, Panama and the Democratic Republic of Congo – but put that behind them in remarkable fashion on Sunday night.

Brown believes that the mental strength they showed to maintain their standards under immense Mexican pressure showed that England have the strength required to succeed at the World Cup.

“They had the mentality to carry on going,” Brown added. “That’s the main thing – mentality is massive in a tournament, you can’t lose your head when it’s not going absolutely perfectly, everything has to be mentally right.

“I think it proves that they’re very strong. Strong players believe in themselves and they work together to defend that goal, and I think that’s a big thing going into the next game where they can all look at each other and say ‘we’ve done this before, even when it gets tough we can battle it out.’ I think that will be massive going into the Norway game.

“We’ve got some really good players, some superstars. It’s been tough, we’ve had to battle it out but we’re doing the right things. The expectation’s still as high as ever, but a lot of the players have got to this stage before in big tournaments and I think that’s a massive boost. Now it’s all about getting over the next hurdle and hoping everyone stays fit.”