Plane crazy!
WORLD CUP’S A CASE OF FEAR WE GO AGAIN FOR SOUTHGATE
GARETH SOUTHGATE admits there is a fear factor for England to overcome if they are to succeed at the World Cup in Russia.
The England boss also insists it is not a coincidence that the country’s best performances in major tournaments have come when they have had the advantage of playing at home.
Southgate said of banishing fear: “I think it’s probably our biggest possible challenge.
“The world of international sport is a hugely difficult environment and very tough for young people.
“Of all the sports, football is the most difficult because the spotlight is the biggest.
“The attention is the most intense and people expect performances now.
“I understand that because I am 47 and I have lived through it, but for young kids who are 19 to 20 or 23, it is not so easy to rationalise.
“So part of my job is to protect them from that, but also to expose them to some of it so they learn how to handle some of it.”
Southgate admits he does not know if the pressure is greater in England than in other countries. He added: “I have not played in another shirt or dealt with and worked with another country’s media, so I don’t know if it’s just us.
“I am sure there is pressure with every country, but for us the disappointments over decades add to that.
“Because we won in 1966, expectation is so much higher, so we will always be compared to that moment of success.
“But then, we were not a league where only 30 per cent of the players were English. Add in the fact we were at home and we were also at home in 1996, when we reached the semi-finals of the Euros.
“So there is no coincidence there. Most teams that host tend to have good tournaments if they are at any decent level.”
EXPECTATION has proved to be a burden for England squads in successive major tournaments.
But the current players won’t have that problem in Russia next summer.
Because there will be no great fanfare when the Three Lions set off for the World Cup.
Some of the players might think they can win it
– or at least challenge.
But nobody else does. Even manager Gareth Southgate realistically concedes that his squad isn’t where he wants it to be.
In other words, they aren’t good enough to get the better of teams like Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal or Brazil.
That’s not being negative – it’s just being realistic.
And maybe that will work to England’s advantage in Russia.
Maybe they will do better with being free of the pressure that accompanied squads like the golden generation of the mid-2000s.
England should have won the European Championships in Portugal in 2004.
Greece won it – and they were nowhere near as strong as Sven Goran Eriksson’s superstar squad.
Will we be surprise winners next year? I can’t see it.
Not after performances like Thursday’s against Slovenia, even though it ended in a win through Harry Kane’s late qualification-securing goal.
The Daily Star Sunday wishes England well in Russia.
We just hope you prove us wrong. Then, Southgate’s squad will return from Russia with love – and respect.