Wayward stars may want
PEP GUARDIOLA told his Manchester City stars to have him on speed dial in case they encounter any problems during the World Cup.
Well, he might have received some late-night distress calls from his England trio after a mistakeriddled display in the Volgograd Arena.
Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker and John Stones will have nightmares about some moments that were not worthy of Premier League title winners.
Sterling, unfairly picked out as the boo-boy of England’s Euro 2016 failures, IN VOLGOGRAD will have to add a far more clinical touch to his game if he is to win over the sceptics who prefer to see Marcus Rashford as Harry Kane’s starting partner. He endured another frustrating night and was put out of his misery after 68 minutes when Rashford was sent on.
Sterling never seemed to recover his confidence after a quite inexplicable early miss. He could not seem to make up his mind with which foot to convert a low cross from Jesse Lingard that presented him with a simple tap-in at the far post. The ball squirmed wide off Sterling’s shins and, while the linesman’s flag spared him serious embarrassment, it was a confidence-sapping moment that no player wants in any game, let alone a World Cup opener.
Walker would argue the penalty was harsh but he should have cleared his lines rather than give Fakhreddine Ben Youssef the chance to deceive the referee. Walker was asking for trouble and he would not need Guardiola to tell him that.
England had dominated the opening half-hour but the penalty gave Tunisia hope. Stones could have changed that by restoring England’s lead but contrived a dreadful mis-kick when Tunisia cleared Dele Alli’s header off the line. England should have been home and hosed by the break but, through carelessness at the front and back, they found themselves level.
Quite how Jesse Lingard failed to take one of four first-half chances only he knows. One was saved before he took a leaf out of Sterling’s book by mixing up his feet to send an opportunity wide, while another was blocked and the fourth hit the outside of the post.
For all the positive buildup, it was shaping to be another frustrating opening night for England – but for Harry Kane’s rescue act.
Kane broke his tournament duck early on but was kept on a tight leash until coming up with the late winner that spared the blushes of so many of his team-mates. The skipper hoped pre-match to match Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick but a double was not a bad start in his bid for the Golden Boot.
Kane’s over-riding emotion will though will be one of relief that his goals got England over the line.
Perhaps we should not have been too surprised by England’s struggles, given they had won only five of their previous 23 openers at major tournaments. This certainly looked like one that was getting away from them until the predatory Kane’s late header.
There were problems with the midges before the game but they were nothing like as annoying as the tenacious Tunisians. The North