Don’t laugh . . . England really can take on the world

IT IS World Cup year and I am getting excited about how promising the England team could look. The strikers in particular are bang in form. I was at Old Trafford on Saturday and Marcus Rashford was magnificent. Harry Kane’s record speaks for itself and then you can add the likes of Jamie Vardy, Raheem Sterling — who is holding down a place in one of Europe’s best teams — and Adam Lallana when fit, so these are exciting times. Dele Alli also seemed fresher on Saturday, more like his old self. We forget how young he is and he was due a dip in form, but he is coming out of it. And it’s not just going forward that England look in good shape. At the back, John Stones and Gary Cahill both played in a game at the highest level (Chelsea v Manchester City) and did well. And the full backs are very strong. So it does look promising for Gareth Southgate but in the past England have had problems with late injuries to the likes of Wayne Rooney and David Beckham so Gareth will just be praying that his first-choice side can stay fit. In terms of the England captaincy, I would go for Kane because he looks nailed on to start. He’s a relatively young man but he handles himself so well that he would sway me ahead of someone like Cahill. I was also intrigued to see Kane taken off again on Saturday when he’d scored twice and was sniffing a hat-trick. But Mauricio Pochettino is taking a long-term view and will need to leave him out of games as the season goes on to keep him fresh, which is when Fernando Llorente plays. Keeping him fresh will also help Gareth when it comes to the World Cup.