STERLING I’ve dreamed of being England’s No.10. I must be more arrogant and streetwise.. I revel in being the MAINMAN
RAHEEM RECKONS HE WAS TAT-TOO SEXY FOR ANY OTHER SHIRT..
RAHEEM STERLING looked sheepish when talking about fulfilling his boyhood dream of becoming England’s No.10.
“I know I shouldn’t mention it but I’ve got a tattoo of it on my arm,” he said.
“It’s something I have always wanted – to wear the No.10 for England. I feel much more happy wearing that shirt, and to be doing it at a World Cup with my country gives me the feeling I can go and do well.”
After a week of tattoo controversies, the irony was not lost on the 23-year-old, who has not just been given one of football’s most iconic shirts but also been made England’s main man for Russia this summer.
Sterling is central to England’s hopes and, far from wilting under the pressure, the Manchester City forward seems to revel in the extra responsibility.
He spoke with confidence, with a smile on his face despite a week that has seen him thrust into the spotlight amid controversies about gun tattoos, lateness, and diving.
Sterling, who wore the No.19 shirt four years ago, started in the No.10 role in England’s opening game of the last World
Cup against Italy and admits he enjoys it far more than being out on the wing, where he appears for City. “It’s where I played as a kid,” he said. “I was more central.
“When I went to Liverpool I started watching videos of Cristiano Ronaldo (right) and Ronaldinho, started doing step-overs like them, started developing my game so I was more in and around the box.
“I’ve played three or four games in that position behind the striker and I feel we’ve done well. Everyone’s getting on the ball, everyone’s wanting to get on the ball, making angles. It’s been really fluent.”
Sterling is happy talking football and says he recognises what he and England must do differently at this World Cup to succeed where they failed in Brazil in 2014 and at the last Euros.
“I’d say probably just controlling games and being a bit more arrogant with the ball,” he said.
“I’m sorry to say it but we have to be more streetwise because we are coming up against some great teams that have that streetwise mentality.
“You do what you have to do to win a game. Simple as that. Be streetwise and clever. Controlling games and stuff like that. Look at the Champions League, for example. “Liverpool went 3-1 down and from then Real Madrid controlled the game. They have that winning mentality in big games, the knowledge not to do anything silly. “It’s not about attacking all the time. They see the game out – once we get that I think we will be a really good team.” Sterling dismissed talk that Gareth Southgate’s England, who are in an opening group with Tunisia, Panama and Belgium, will be satisfied to reach the quarter-finals or even the last 16 in Russia. The man who was a key part of City’s title triumph is talking about going all the way to the final.
“That’s the one thing I don’t like hearing, people saying ‘we’ll see what happens here, see what happens there’, he said.
“Forget all of that. I’m not coming here to spend four, five, six weeks of my life to say ‘hopefully last 16.’
“We have got 23 players here, 23 good players, very good players, and you know we all have the mentality to say that we are going to win games. What can stop us?
“If 23 players want to win it, then 23 players have got that mentality…”
England haven’t gone as far as the semi-final at a World Cup since Italy in 1990, when they lost to West Germany in a penalty shoot-out, but Sterling believes that sorry run is about to end.
“No, a quarter-final won’t be good enough at all because we want to win it,” he said. “Every player wants to win the World Cup, every country wants to win the World Cup, so anything less than that is not really a bonus.
“Of course, you can take positives out of everything but you won’t be entirely happy if you don’t win it.”