Stuart Pearce: "The England manager's job is the pinnacle of anyone's career.
"When I look at Fabio every day and watch him work, I realise how inept I am as a manager.
"I'm a manager that has been in control of a team for maybe 150 matches over a four-year period.
"For me, that is ridiculously lightly raced as a manager. Very lightly experienced. I feel I have many years in front of me where I have to gain experience as a manager.
"It's how fickle we are in football that maybe two years ago as Manchester City manager I was written off," Pearce said. "Two years down the line I'm written back on again. If I lose the semi-final I'll be written back off again.
"I've got a long-term plan that I keep to myself. The one thing I can tell you is that today I haven't got enough experience by any means.
"There is a better manager to come from me. I'll be a better manager tomorrow morning than I am today and I'll keep improving."
Facing Germany is part of Pearce's learning curve. As a player he was up against them at the 1990 World Cup and Euro '96, losing on penalties each time.
His history against Germany, scoring a spot-kick at Wembley and missing one in Italy, means there is plenty of personal pride at stake at Orjans Vall. The Germans, meanwhile, need a point to seal a place in the semi-finals.
"When you look at the international calendar, England against Germany is a big, big fixture," Pearce said. "Our proudest moment as a nation was when we won the World Cup against Germany many many years ago.
"We have to make sure some of our better memories against Germany are when we are winning games and tournaments. I have lost two major semi-finals to very good German sides.
"I can't do much about that now. My squad can do something about it when we play them again."