Gareth Southgate’s young England side gave the world champions plenty to think about and have the potential to go on to better things
The kids are, it turns out, all right. Or in the case of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, a little better than all right on a crisp, fun night at Wembley when Gareth Southgate’s enforced gamble in selecting the most inexperienced England team in 40 years to take on the world champions was a measured success.
Southgate has often been portrayed as a strikingly beige figure in his short England reign, an FA insider bringing with him all the chin-stroking touchline charisma of a friendly, doomed supply teacher who really hopes everyone will stop talking and listen to him discuss sedimentary rock patterns if he just stands here and frowns for a bit longer.
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