The England manager this week names his squad for Russia and has hinted there will be no major surprisesGareth Southgate has made the sensible decision to name his World Cup squad early, this coming week in fact, perhaps because of his close proximity to the furniture rearranging that took place when Glenn Hoddle trimmed Paul Gascoigne from his list at the last moment in 1998.As Southgate has explained, injuries permitting there is no need to prolong anyone’s agony when you have a couple of weeks to spare and a reasonable idea of the group you would like to select. Better to let everyone know the good or bad news early and give the individuals in the finalised squad as much...
Hart has struggled for games and form but Gareth Southgate is still set to take his 75-cap goalkeeper to Russia despite the claims of England’s younger trio“Three days ago against Spain, I felt like crying,” said Vikash Dhorasoo. “I’m not a supporter, I’m not a spectator, I’m a football player and I’m not playing football.”Filmed before and during the 2006 World Cup, the docu-film Substitute details the existential isolation felt by the France international as he watches his team-mates reach the final in Germany. Released a year after the tournament, the film is an intriguing insight into life on the bench but it also spelled the end for Dhorasoo’s international career after the manager, Raymond Domenech, took exception. Related: World...
The 1986 quarter-final between England and Argentina is famous for one of football’s most iconic moments. But there was more to this goal – and match – than a single act of larcenyHigh noon, one blistering Sunday in Mexico City, and a quarter-final shootout between two arch rivals who hadn’t met in a World Cup for 20 years and had grievance on their minds. Rattín’s Revenge! Or, in the offices of various tabloid newspapers and the heads of the slow: Falklands II. Here are 10 things that happened during a first half everyone’s long forgotten about:1) Just before kick-off, instead of focusing on the players warming up in the oppressive sun, the Mexican television director chose to zoom in on...
From Chelsea captain at 18 to a generous-spirited pundit, he was the most well-mannered and courteous of football menIn the eyes of all who watched him captaining Chelsea at the age of 18, Ray Wilkins was a golden boy of English football. To an instinctive vision of the game and a superlative range of skills he was already bringing elegance, composure and, most of all, a precocious sense of responsibility that enabled him to instil a sense of purpose into a team who had just been relegated to the old Second Division.As a classical inside-forward, Wilkins was always a joy to watch. He led Chelsea back into the top tier in his second season as the captain of a team...
Gareth Southgate’s most pressing need at Wembley was for his players to show something in attack against Italy – and Sterling and Vardy were happy to obligeOn Wembley Way before kick-off a louche, drowsy New Orleans‑style jazz band dressed in Three Lions shirts could be heard parping and tootling away, serenading the strolling crowds. At the time it seemed a slightly off‑key soundtrack to another outing for this guarded, orderly England team, like cutting the highlights of a chess match to the soundtrack to the Benny Hill show.Three hours later it was probably all for the best that England had failed to keep their sixth successive clean sheet on another mannered, quietly intriguing night for this doggedly constructed team. When it...