SINCLAIR IS NOT GIVING UP ON CAP DREAM JUST YET
The players have clicked and the manager did an exceptional job with them
HINTS that Gareth Southgate was capable of saying all the right things, lacing subtlety with steeliness, on the World Cup trail were available last September when he delicately dashed Scott Sinclair’s international dreams.
Sinclair had won a Treble in an outstanding campaign for his new club. He was surrounded by individual honours at the close of a stunning first season in Scottish football and there was one extra personal ambition he dared to wonder might be within reach.
Club boss Brendan Rodgers tried to help him on the way, touting him for a call-up for the World Cup finals qualifier against Scotland last June at Hampden and speaking to Southgate directly about Sinclair’s credentials as ‘a player of technique who provides a genuine goal threat’.
Three months later, there was Sinclair, fresh from scoring in a Champions League away victory in Belgium, wondering if his form for Celtic might merit a call-up. The answer was, effectively, a brutally honest ‘no chance’ from the England manager, with the reason being he simply wasn’t regarded as up to the class of this squad.
Yet Southgate somehow managed to sound as if he was letting Sinclair down gently and, well, at least the winger was aware of his fate before England had even nailed an automatic qualification spot.
‘At the moment, I think he is just below the level of what we’ve already got,’ said Southgate. ‘He’s a good player but we have good quality in that area of the pitch. I did have a conversation with Brendan about him.’
And so it proved with Southgate’s selections sending England deep into the tournament and finishing fourth after losing yesterday’s third-place play-off to Belgium.
Sinclair’s own form, meanwhile, rather tailed off for Celtic and he rounded off the season making substitute appearances as the double Treble was achieved.
Sinclair, who played for England between Under-17 and Under-21 level and was part of the 2012 Great Britain Olympic squad, is intent on regaining his first-season form for Celtic and refuses to give up on earning a senior cap.
For this summer, the 29-year-old has been content to enjoy watching England qualify for the second stage with a game to spare, bury their major tournament penalties hoodoo against Colombia and reach the last four — with several of his former team-mates playing major roles.
One of the stars of the campaign, Kieran Trippier, was a Manchester City youngster when he played for Stuart Pearce’s Under-21s with Sinclair. Jordan Henderson, Kyle Walker and Danny Welbeck were 2011 Under-21 European Championship finals colleagues of the Celtic star.
‘I’ve played with a few of the England boys like Danny Welbeck, Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier,’ said Sinclair. ‘I was with some of them with the Under-21s and they’ve done so well.
‘Kieran has come such a long way in a short space of time. He’s now a great player for Spurs and England. I was with him at Under-19 level with England and, before Burnley, Kieran was at Barnsley. It’s great that he’s taken that route and worked his way up to start for England.
‘When you’re at a big club as a kid, you need to go out and get experience. A few of them have gone on loan and, within a few years, they’re playing for England.
‘So I think it’s been different this time. The team has played with no fear throughout all the games. The players have all clicked together and the manager has done an exceptional job with them. They’ve gone out and did their stuff — and it worked.
‘That’s been a problem in the past, the shackles never really came off and there was so much pressure on them. Going into every game, previous England teams had so much pressure leading up to big games.
‘But this is such a young squad and it doesn’t seem to have fazed them. They’ve just gone out, played freely and done the job.
‘Most people thought if England got out of the group, then a quarter-final place would be great.
‘They said they lacked experience but there’s always been that bit of negativity.
‘So, they’ve done so well to get to the last four and were unlucky not to go into the final.’
A Celtic pre-season trip to Austria and preparations for the Champions League qualifying trip to Armenia prevented Sinclair from soaking up the English fervour as Southgate’s squad progressed to the last four.
He was back home in Glasgow, following Celtic’s 3-0 first leg success over Alashkert, for the extra-time defeat to Croatia which was greeted with predictable delirium by so many Scottish fans.
In the wake of that disappointment for Sinclair, he emerged hopeful, like many Three Lions fans, that England can contest the semi-finals and final of the 2020 European Championship on the home turf of Wembley.
‘The England performance bodes well for the future,’ said Sinclair. ‘It’s exciting for the nation now to go into the Euro 2020 qualifiers. These players will be two years older, so hopefully they’ll have learned and can go even further at the next tournament. It’s about continuing to build now.
‘There hasn’t been too much stick from the Scottish boys at Celtic, to be honest. I didn’t go out to watch any of the England games, so didn’t really get a feel for it here. I’ve just been at home with the missus and the kids watching it.
‘The whole nation got behind the lads. From my family and friends down south, I could get a real feel for it. It was massive, you’ve seen all the videos from around the country. Everyone gathered together to support England and it was great to see. It was a great game to watch on Wednesday and I thought we were going through at 1-0. We were a bit unlucky.’
Sinclair remained on the bench as goals from Odsonne Edouard, James Forrest and Callum McGregor gave Celtic a commanding advantage over Alashkert at the halfway stage of their first-round qualifier. With Rodgers favouring a two-man strike force of Edouard and Moussa Dembele so far this season, Sinclair is in danger of being squeezed out again.
He recognises that he must return to his glittering form of 2016/17 if the question is ever to be asked of his national team manager again — and that means scrapping for his Celtic first-team place back as soon as possible.
‘After my first season at Celtic, I had ambitions of getting back into the England squad — and it’s definitely something that can still be achieved,’ said Sinclair. ‘When I first arrived, it wasn’t something I thought about; it was to enjoy my football, play well and score goals.
‘I did that and picked up the Player of the Year award here. England was always at the back of my mind but it’s just about doing well for Celtic.
‘At the moment, the manager has gone for wing-backs in a different formation. He’s playing with no wingers. But all I can do is continue to work hard in training and try to get into the team.’