I’ll be ecstatic but we need to finish the job
COADY’S KEEPING A LID ON EMOTIONS ONE LAST TIME
RARELY can a last-round qualification game have been laced with such little jeopardy given that, mathematically, England are not yet through to next year’s World Cup finals.
The explanation reveals itself in the fact that England only need a point against the worst team in international football and know a defeat would probably be fine too. Tonight’s game in San Marino has
armchair ride status. But as
SITTING PRETTY
England are preparing to stamp the last page on the road to Qatar, European champions Italy will be fretting over automatic qualification as their group comes down to a nail-biting denouement before Holland go through similar agonies tomorrow. Stress levels in Spain and Portugal were similarly high last night.
So while it is correct to take England’s progression for granted, it isn’t right to take the achievement for granted. When they make it official, the England squad will view their qualification more emotionally than simply a box ticked. “I’ll be excited. Ecstatic. Absolutely ecstatic,” said centreback Conor Coady, who will start tonight.
“It will be a proud moment to say you’ve been involved in these squads and getting our country to the biggest show on earth. That’s a massive, massive achievement for everybody involved. “People can speak about what they want but we’ve had a job to do over the past year and we’ve got to a point now where we can get ourselves over the line with a good performance and a good win. We need to make sure that we finish the job.”
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking qualification is the normal state of affairs but as recently as the 2008 tournament and Steve McClaren’s infamous ‘Wally with the Brolly’ moment, England failed to qualify for Japan.
England also missed out on the World Cup finals in 1974 and 1994. They have no divine right to be there. But they have bossed their Group I from the off and, apart from last month’s home draw with Hungary which kept Poland in the race, have controlled it throughout in remaining unbeaten.
England manager Gareth Southgate said: “Without doubt, we should never take qualification for granted. There hasn’t been a lot of margin for error.We dealt really well with the games in Warsaw and Budapest, which were probably the key ones for qualification.
“We have the best defensive record in Europe, in terms of goals to games.We are fourth in terms of goals scored and chances created. It is a good challenge to try and improve on it.”
Having beaten San Marino 5-0 at Wembley in March, the expectation will be of a similar avalanche in Europe’s third-smallest country.
Coady said: “We’ve all played games for our clubs where we’ve come up against – and no disrespect in any way – a lower opposition. You’ve got to make sure you do things right and stick to the principles that have brought you success – trying to move the ball as quickly as we can, being professional, staying on the front foot and maintaining attacks.
“It’s not necessarily about complacency but sticking to our beliefs that have got us here. If we do that, we’ll put on a good display for the 3,000 England fans flying
over.”