England has become a target for top teams after World Cup showing, says Dier

England's Eric Dier thinks there is more respect for the national team after they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup.

England and Tottenham's Eric Dier

Eric Dier thinks England's performance at the World Cup has made it a team everyone else now wants to beat.

Gareth Southgate's side made it to the semi-finals for the first time since 1990, and it lost to Croatia in the final four before being beaten in the third-place play-off by Belgium.

Its efforts in Russia saw it climb six places to sixth in the FIFA rankings, ahead of European champion Portugal and Spain, the team it faces in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday.

Dier believes it is now more of a target for the top international sides after gaining some "respect" on the global stage.

"The more successful you are as a team, the more of a target you become. Do teams see beating us [as] a scalp now? Yes," the Tottenham man told Standard Sport.

"Having got to the semi-finals and played the tournament we had, we gained more respect from the footballing world. The hardest thing now is to maintain that respect and earn even more. That's what we are trying to do."

"We had a very positive World Cup and we need to build on that, get better and really keep improving. We need to maintain that high level over a long period of time to be in the top bracket."

"Spain had a difficult World Cup but they are still one of the best footballing nations. We want to compete against, and beat, the best. Even though our World Cup was so positive, we still feel like we need to prove ourselves against the best teams."

Dier is looking forward to playing at Wembley once more after a World Cup in which the support from fans and the English media seemed to strengthen as the tournament went on.

"We are excited to be playing in England after the World Cup," he said. "During the tournament, it was difficult for us to really understand what things were like back home. Hopefully we can feel a bit of that on Saturday and Tuesday as well."

"But, for me, the World Cup is the past. We didn't win it. From my point of view, it was right that there wasn't a parade. We had a fantastic tournament, we brought unity to the nation which was needed at the time and everyone got behind us. It was incredible to be a part of, but we need to have that mentality where we should never be satisfied."