RUSSIA’S CALLING – NOW THE REAL BUSINESS BEGINS FOR ENGLAND

So a 2-0 win over Costa Rica has seen England complete their build up to World Cup 2018 and head for Russia, and they remain unbeaten since their defeat to France nearly a year ago.The next time they set foot on a football pitch it will be for real in Volgograd against Tunisia on the 18th June, that is when it really matters, friendlies only tell you so much as competitive matches are the real currency in International football.

FA HAVE THE MAN THEY WANTED IN FIRST PLACE

It is fair to say Gareth ‘GS’ Southgate has done a good job so far as England manager. The FA’s ‘Yes man’ who lets be honest only got the job because he is the safe pair of hands the hierarchy wanted once Sam Allardyce was essentially paid off to relinquish the post after a newspaper sting. Performances have been in an out but the one thing he has done well is decide on a system and stick with it and he has got all the players to buy into it,  something previous managers have struggled with prior to major tournaments.

EXPECTATION

So what can we expect from the Three Lions. As always with England as the tournament gets closer the usual chimes of excitement about the team  maybe just maybe going all the way builds. Whilst that is possible in an quite open World Cup, I for one have no illusions at that level. England are a good side and the manager has some very promising young players at his disposal which he has used well in his time at the helm. However being realistic there are far better sides in the competition than them so don’t expect too much I say.

REQUIREMENTS

England have lucked out to some extent with their group (Belgium, Panama, Tunisia) when you compare it to what they faced in 2014 (Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica). MINIMUM requirement HAS to be qualification from the group phase. The potential last 16 opponents would then be one from Colombia, Japan, Poland or Senegal. No guarantees of course but the draw could have been a lot worse there too, so for me the target has to be getting to the quarter finals anything after that will be a huge bonus. Anything less will seem like a bit of a failure especially as England have most definitely over the years been the biggest underachieving team given their resources. They head to Russia this coming Tuesday (12th June). Here’s wishing them all the best.

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