Vulnerability of favourites will give England hope
WHAT has really stood out for me at this tournament is how vulnerable the so-called favourites have looked at times.
Do not get me wrong, England are not watertight at the back, but I think Gareth Southgate and the lads will be watching Brazil, Spain, Argentina and Germany and thinking there is nothing to fear.
The big teams have been wide open when they have come up against pace. I have been a little bit surprised by how defensively vulnerable Spain, Germany and even Brazil have looked. I do not think they are the forces they once were.
Okay, it is positive that most of the teams here are going into games trying to win them and committing men forward. But you could argue every team have shown areas they can be got at — and that will give our lads real belief they can do well out here.
Even in Spain’s first game, when they drew 3-3 with Portugal, they needed Koke (right) to make a tacke on Ricardo Quaresma in injury time or they could have lost the game. And even Belgium to a degree — I know it is very difficult to judge them on their 3-0 win against
Panama, but they were not as impressive as everyone expected them to be.
I think one of the standout performances so far has been the Mexico display against Germany.
If you ever wanted to see a team putting everything they had into a game and playing for their country with passion and hunger, then that was the game. It was incredible performance.