No easy path to glory, warns Trent

Defender Trent Alexander-Arnold insists that there is no easier route to World Cup glory for England.

Last night’s 1-0 defeat to Belgium in Kaliningrad for a much-changed Three Lions side saw England finish second in Group G.

They now face Colombia in the last 16 on Tuesday (7pm), with the winners tackling Sweden or Switzerland in the quarter-finals, an arguably more helpful draw than Belgium, who could meet Brazil in the last eight.

But full-back Alexander-Arnold, one of eight changes to England’s side last night, said: “There are no easy games ahead of us. It will be very tough.

“If you look back to the last World Cup, they did unbelievably well.

“They have shown in this World Cup that they can bounce back from a defeat and win games. It is not going to be easy at all.”

On the defeat, to an Adnan Januzaj strike, Alexander-Arnold added: “Very disappointing. We came into the game wanting to win it, obviously we never won it, but we are still in the round of 16 and something to look forward to.

“They controlled a lot of possession. We had our chances and never took them. Equally, they had one big chance and they took it. It was a good goal at the end of the day.

“We can only regret the chances we didn’t take. But we are in the round of 16, out the group stages, which was the first objective for the team.”

England striker Jamie Vardy agreed that there are no short cuts to World Cup glory. The Leicester man said: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as an easier half of the draw. Everyone’s qualified for a reason. We’ve seen some big nations go out. “

Regarding last night’s loss, he added: “We turned up here to win, we don’t want to be losing.

“We created the chances, we’ve just not been able to put them away. But we’ll get back on that train knowing we’re in the last 16 and we’ll make sure we’re focused on Colombia.”