ENGLAND NIGERIA
Kev king ...and Mo mistake!
left no stone unturned in terms of preparation. The players like dealing with him, big-name players, and he is somebody they respect.
As a country, the biggest thing England has to overcome is the weight of those Three Lions and that shirt.
It’s one of the mythical brands, whether we like it or not, and he has travelled the world to work out why it doesn’t weigh so heavily with Brazil and Germany.
But Southgate is taking that weight off his young squad and making us competitive – and he is doing both successfully at a very good time. BELGIUM boss Roberto Martinez still can’t believe Mo Salah beat Kevin De Bruyne to the Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year and PFA Player of the Year gongs this season.
Egyptian ace Salah, fighting to be fit for the World Cup finals after sustaining a shoulder injury in the Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid last weekend, struck 44 club goals in a record-breaking season for Liverpool.
His haul included 32 in the Premier League to land him the Golden Boot.
But De Bruyne was the ring master in Manchester City’s march to the League Cup and then the title, with City becoming the first team to reach a century of points in an English top-flight season.
Martinez would have given the individual accolades to De Bruyne – the man he hopes will pull the strings for Belgium at the World Cup.
Martinez said: “Mo has had an incredible season, the best season in his career, there are no two ways about it.
Records
“But Kevin De Bruyne almost came into a new way of working with Pep Guardiola, who he has a really strong connection with.
“Kevin influenced a lot of things in that team in order for them to achieve the standards they achieved.
“This is a team that has broken all the records in the Premier League.
“Individual awards are given for individual performances, but those individual performances come as part of a team, in what is a team sport. Out of the two, Kevin probably had a bigger effect over the 10-month season.”
De Bruyne and fellow City star Vincent Kompany will come up against club-mate John Stones when Belgium and England clash in Group G on June 28.
Martinez was Stones’ manager at Everton for three seasons until 2016, and the Belgium boss recalled: “I was scouting John for Wigan and we missed him on deadline day, and then he signed for Everton. He hadn’t made his debut when I joined Everton that summer.
“From day one I knew John had to be a centre-half and that he had the composure on the ball to play in that position. He has a big future.”
Martinez also missed out on another member of Gareth Southgate’s squad.
The ex-swansea, Wigan and Everton boss added: “I followed Kieran Trippier for Wigan when he got released by Manchester City but he went to Burnley.
“My chief scout absolutely loved him.”