England are no World Cup minnows
Forget the ‘no-hopers’ routine..it’s time to talk up our game-changers
THE England squad’s media day was a pleasant affair, with the new faces, in particular, revelling in the attention.
We heard of Nick Pope’s milk round and his journey from the non-league outposts of Suffolk.
James Tarkowski spoke about his Polish ancestry, even though it seems Poland’s FA were never serious about recruiting him.
Lewis Cook, of Bournemouth, said he was proof there is a pathway from the juniors to the seniors.
Alfie Mawson admitted a lot of people, when hearing about his call-up, thought “Alfie who?”.
Ashley Young – not a new boy, but almost a new player – also took centre stage, his conversion to a decent left-back an intriguing narrative.
It was knockabout stuff, the sort of stuff you tend to hear about when an FA Cup underdog is about to take on Manchester United or the like. All mildly heart-warming. Yet it gives the impression England, despite cruising through qualification, are World Cup minnows.
The standard response – one repeated here – to the idea England may boycott the tournament has been to point out they pretty much boycotted World Cup 2014, so staying away from Russia would be an irrelevance.
And, after the Iceland debacle at Euro 2016, it is fair to say expectations are not sky-high.
But, hopefully, if the friendlies against Holland and Italy – hardly anticipated with great public enthusiasm – do one thing, it will be to remind us Southgate does have gamechanging players at his disposal.
He does have, despite John Stones’ current issues at Manchester City, a world-class centre-half. Southgate should put his faith in him.
Pep Guardiola says he still believes in Stones and that should be good enough.
Guardiola certainly believes in Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker.
Sterling is a different player to the one who went to Brazil four years ago. He has 15 Premier League goals and seven assists this season and he keeps highquality personnel out of City’s first-choice starting line-up.
Sterling remains the sort of mercurial wildcard who can turn matches – just like Marcus Rashford.
You only had to be at Old Trafford for the Liverpool match, a couple of weeks ago, to realise that.
Rashford should be fearless and fresh, come June.
And, assuming Harry Kane is fit, there is a partnership up top that should be able to rival most in Russia this summer.
The understandable concern about his simulation and his temperament has masked the fact that Dele Alli has been quietly playing himself back into form.
Mauricio Pochettino recently referred to him as “the best 21-year-old footballer in the world”.
That might be a stretch, but he is certainly one of the most experienced 21-year-olds at such a rarefied level, having played well over 100 games for Spurs and closing in on 50 goals for his club.
Yes, he needs to cut out the sort of silliness that earned him a one-match ban for a one-fingered gesture, but Alli has the potential to be one of the marquee attractions at the World Cup.
It is down to Southgate to get the best out of Alli, Rashford and Sterling – whether starting or coming off the bench.
When the focus in the build-up to these two friendlies has been on the unlikely stories, it is easy to forget Southgate does have stellar assets at his disposal.
Sure, as has been pointed out here many times, there are concerns about the form of several squad contenders.
Sure, the challenge Southgate faces is mountainous.
But whatever squad he takes to Russia this summer, they won’t just be a plucky bunch of no-hopers.