Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE PLAYERS CAN MAKE AN INCREDIBLE DIFFERENCE
As stars prepare for talks on their concerns about human rights in Qatar, Coady hails his Three Lions team-mates
CONOR COADY believes England players can make an “incredible difference” as they prepare to qualify for the “biggest show on earth”.
Senior Three Lions stars will hold talks about expressing their concerns over human rights issues in Qatar, ahead of next year’s controversial World Cup finals in the Gulf state.
Holland wore protest T-shirts to join Germany (right) and Norway (Erling Haaland, circle), who have also taken a stand against alleged abuses of migrant workers in the Gulf nation.
It will be the most controversial World Cup in history and, even though Coady says the players are excited about qualification, it is another chance for them to take a stand – once they clinch qualification as they prepare to face San Marino.
Wolves captain Coady is part of England’s leadership group. He played a big role in raising money for NHS heroes in the pandemic, while Jordan Henderson and Marcus Rashford have also addressed social issues.
Coady said: “The players in this group make an incredible difference every day of their lives, trying to use that platform to help different people, trying to help kids with Rashy, the NHS with Hendo – it’s different things.
“The most important thing for us over the past year has been trying to push ourselves to get to Qatar.
“But we are not robots. We see things every day, we’re seeing the news, we’re reading the papers.
“I’m sure the conversation will be had at some point regarding this situation, but for us it was getting to where we wanted to be, and then crossing that bridge when we came to it. It is tough to speak about it because it is not something we have had a real conversation about at the minute.
“But we’ve always said to ourselves, over the last year, that the most important thing is to get to where we want to be, which is to Qatar, and honestly speak about the situation when the time is right.”
Coady, 28, will play against San Marino and, despite not being a must-pick under Gareth Southgate, he has a strong voice in the dressing room.
Having reached the
World Cup semi-finals in
2018 and the Euros final in the summer, next year gives the players another great opportunity and Coady admits they cannot hide their excitement.
He added: “We speak about it all the time, about the excitement. The coaching staff speak about the excitement, the manager speaks about the excitement of trying to get to the biggest show on earth.
“It’s important we speak about it because that’s where we want to be, that’s what we’ve worked so hard for over the last year with the qualifiers we’ve had. We need to make sure we finish the job.
“There’s 3,000 fans going across and we want to put on a good show. It’ll be a proud moment to say you’ve been involved in these squads and getting our country to the biggest show on earth.”