Forget the future – Southgate needs to go for victory
With Spain, we knew exactly how each result would affect us but sought victory even if it meant facing more difficult opponents
At every World Cup and European Championship that I was part of, we played a game in the Spain camp that meant you knew every possible scenario of the tournament. Everybody who travelled, including the players, the management, all the backroom staff, the kit men, everyone, predicted every score of every game as the tournament went along. You got points for guessing the right winner, the right score and the right scorers and, at the end, the guy with the most points was the winner. I usually finished mid-table, I never won.
It helped to occupy us and it was good banter because everyone took part and wanted to have the bragging rights – especially the guys who were not the players. But it also meant we knew everything that could happen.
As players, we always knew exactly which side of the draw was best and which teams Spain could play and where. We used to talk about it, too, and discuss which teams and players we thought were strong and who were in the last 16 and quarter-finals.
I am sure the England players will know the scenario of their group and the last 16 before they kick off against Belgium. But, even though we sometimes knew it could get us more difficult opponents, we always tried to win every game with Spain.
Our mentality was always to want to finish first. Every player knows who they could get next and what each result means, but for your dignity and for the country, you always want to go for the win, no matter what.
Players that might come into the team want to do well to try to stay in and those who keep playing want to keep the momentum and their form.
It is crazy that the amount of bookings could decide who win the group and who come second, but I do not expect the England and Belgium players to try to control this.
I have never been on any team where anybody has got booked on purpose, either to clean the bookings or for any other reason. Occasionally, it is very obvious when you watch on television, you do not have to be very smart to see some players get yellow cards on purpose to clean their bookings. But I have never done it and it has never been talked about in any of the teams I have been in.
I now expect England to get to a quarter-final or a semi-final, at least. I think they will do very well, I have this feeling – they are young, hungry, they seem to get on very well together and they have found their shape.
So I feel they have a lot of positives. You need a top striker in every country to do something big and England have it in Harry Kane, who is putting himself at a new level. The World Cup is the centre of attention for everybody – people who watch football and people who do not watch football, they watch World Cups. It is this competition that can get you really, really far ahead from the rest and we know that if England have a chance to do well, then Kane will need to be at his best.
In tough moments he performs and, for Gareth Southgate, he is probably the most important player. He is the most recognisable player in the England squad, he is the one that people, especially in Spain, know the most.
Kane has started very, very well. He is a fantastic player and the type you can see is different to the rest. Year by year, he scores more goals, he gets more complete and if he keeps doing it in the World Cup, then he will be an even bigger name by the end of the summer.
Tottenham Hotspur must be extremely pleased that he signed a new contract before the tournament started.
We used to discuss which teams and players we thought were strong and who we could play next