No luxury Kroos for Germans this time
provide more than Premier League goals.
It is not just practice but a harmonised mentality that means Tottenham’s recent evolution may transfer to the England camp – preferably with some silverware at the end of it.
For now, the nation would probably be satisfied simply with the same devil-may-care attitude that saw Spurs topple Champions League finalists Real Madrid and Liverpool so convincingly this season.
“It’s about feeling confident and believing in your abilities, which we do,” said Trippier. “We believe we can go a long way. We’ve got the players in this squad to hurt teams. The pace, the youth we’ve got in this team, as long as we believe that we can do special things, that’s all that matters.
“Everybody is maybe writing us off, but we all believe we have a great team here, great staff, a great manager. We go into the tournament with a positive mind-set to win.
“We know it’s going to be tough, but we all believe.”
To that end Trippier revealed one lessheralded quality of Kane that perhaps explained some of the strength to their bond: he is a great person.
“If you ever need help he will listen to you,” said Trippier.
“He is a great leader, you can see that on and off the field. There is no better person to lead us into the World Cup.”
We believe we can go a long way
three FOUR years ago, the German team stayed in a five-star hotel on a tiny, picturesque island off the Brazilian mainland, inspiring them to World Cup glory.
This time, the defending champions are in a red-brick hotel block in the village of Vatutinki, along a drab strip of motorway that leads out of Moscow, surrounded by huge tower blocks. Coach Joachim Low believes the complex possesses “the charm of a better sports school”. “It’s OK,” said Toni Kroos, left. “We can spend our time here with two, three activities – and the desire for vacation afterwards becomes even stronger.”