COUNTDOWN Southgate needs a
AFTER the ignominy of Iceland just 17 months ago, the belief in our despondent country was that simply getting out of the group stages in Russia in the next big tournament would be a success in itself.
It all seemed so unlikely at the time.
Now only Poland, Iran and Panama stand in the way and even second place in that group would be good enough. In Gareth Southgate’s dream world, that is.
With all the qualifiers finally confirmed in the early hours of this morning – New Zealand and Peru still had to settle the final berth at the time of going to print – England now know they will be in Pot Two for the draw in the Kremlin on December 1.
Although Russia are one of the bottom two teams in the tournament in terms of ranking, their host status perhaps makes them best avoided in the new world of a 32-team tournament.
Certainly there are plenty of off-the-field reasons for doing so.
Yes, Poland would do just nicely – while Pots Three and Four are fairly sparse in terms of quality whoever comes out of the proverbial hat.
That said, there are one or two names there best avoided. The flip-side to the benign scenario above could be a group of death for England that included Brazil, Sweden – with Zlatan Ibrahimovic looking for his final swansong – and a young, unpredictable but powerful Nigeria side.
Encouraging though this week has been for Southgate’s side, no amount of goalless draws are likely to be enough to get out of that one.
These days, however, as UEFA move towards including bottom-tier teams in future European Championships via the mindboggling Nations League system, the authorities seem to be insisting that the magic of these major tournaments lies not so much in the winning, as the taking part.
Try telling that to Italy fans with no Azzurri to follow this summer, who must tune into the exploits of lowly THE final World Cup play-offs have been completed and we can look forward to seven months of build-up reaching a level of hysteria where we actually believe that England can do it.
Gareth Southgate’s team are 20-1 seventh favourites for the tournament in Russia, quite some distance behind the joint favourites, Brazil and Germany, who are both 5-1. At 11-2, France are
BY JOE CRILLY
Panama instead.
It was no surprise that manager Gian Piero Ventura was subsequently sacked yesterday, but his was not the only ‘big’ football nation to miss out, and immediately this week there have been whispers of the United States organising a rebel competition next summer for those who failed to qualify, comprising Holland, Ghana and Chile, as well as Italy.
The US Soccer Federation even confirmed as much – although given that FIFA would have to authorise such a competition it seems dead in the water as the aim is to and Saudi Arabia the third favourites and perhaps have the strongest squad but there remains doubts as to whether Didier Deschamps is the man who can knit this talented group together.
Spain come next in the betting and while they perhaps lack the star quality of their World Cup-winning squad, they are decent enough to warrant a price of 15-2. Argentina and Belgium are the last two sides ahead of England in the betting. always make World Cup the show in town.
But does that mean it will be a good one? Geography alone sets its own barrier against that for the fans who make the effort to travel.
England’s players face between a 5,000 and 7,000mile round-trip from their Repino base to complete their three group games, with World Cup matches in total sprinkled across four different time zones.
Ultimately, though, the success of the tournament will be measured by the football on the pitch. Brazil showed signs at Wembley on the only Tuesday night that they have the individual flair to light up the tournament, while Germany have still not been beaten since the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
Or could this be the year that Belgium finally draw on the full potential of their individual parts?
Spain, meanwhile, after an ignominious group-stage exit in Brazil, may only have one last chance on the big stage to draw on the experience of Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta before they tiki-taka retirement.
Pele’s 1977 prediction that an African team would win the World Cup by the turn of the century is already overdue and looks no closer to coming true after the 2017 African Nations Cup winners Cameroon were among those who failed to qualify. Or could it be England? With the way the draw is structured, at least there is only about a seven per cent chance of us being grouped with Iceland... off into