It looked all set for Gareth Southgate’s coronation with Liverpool’s talisman the jewel in the crown. But then it all went wrongPulp the souvenir first editions! Re-cork the Prosecco. Reassume the sober Southgate-era frown. Welcome instead to the almost-dawning of the age of Gareth. On a mild, oddly boisterous night England and their temp-to-perm manager came close to pulling off a genuinely startling result at Wembley, leading Spain 2-0 before two late goals stilled the sense of a dawning coronation, with all the giddy uncertainties such a victory here might have brought.This was still an encouraging match in many ways, if only for the simple pleasure of the occasion. With an hour gone, Mexican waves rolling around this great concrete...
Gareth Southgate seems on course to land the England job, Wales slip up, Republic of Ireland must stifle Gareth Bale and Spain warm up for WembleyCurrently there are no outstanding teams in international football. In part this is down to concentration of money in the club game, which has led to the world’s best players converging at fewer clubs than ever before. But to look at the winners of the last World Cup and European Championship, and to look at the South American giants, is to look at a fallow period across the board. Which is to say that it has never been easier to succeed, which is to say that England stand on the verge of opportunity. Though they...
England have struggled against top teams so the visit of Spain is a perfect test for the creaking hobby horse that is the Wembley revolutionAt a time when much of the chatter around England has centred on the existential, Gauloise-puffing idea of identity, essence and (God help us) “footballing DNA”, it seems fitting Spain should be Tuesday night’s friendly opponents at Wembley. The FA’s urge to find a template to follow, embellish and generally crib has circled France, Germany and Spain, with an Iberian tang to elements from B team proposals, elite player performance plan and the idea teams at every level should adopt an already outmoded possession game.After Friday’s win against Scotland Gareth Southgate even spoke in his post-match...
Barcelona defender’s pro-Catalonia stance has encouraged the internet trolls, and he has decided that after Russia 2018 it will no longer be worth itIt may have been a spur-of-the-moment overreaction and Gerard Piqué would not be the first Spain centre-half to be talked out of retirement after Carles Puyol’s U-turn in 2010, but if he sticks by his decision to stop playing international football in 2018 can he really be blamed?The Barcelona player, one of the best defenders to have played for Spain, has long been vilified for taking a strong pro-Catalonian independence view and the poisonous reaction to him cutting the sleeves off his full-length shirt as opposed to wearing a short-sleeved one that bears the country’s flag during...
Gareth Southgate should have taken radical action over England captaincy, Hal Robson-Kanu may be needed by Wales and how long can Didier Deschamps do without Karim Benzema?Captaincy is among the biggest red herrings in football: all players are supposed to set examples with their performances and leaders lead with or without an armband. And yet the England captaincy matters simply because a lot of people think it matters. Steven Gerrard was upset when it was taken off him by a caretaker manager, Stuart Pearce, and David Beckham was uplifted when it was given to him by a caretaker manager, Peter Taylor. The country’s latest caretaker manager, Gareth Southgate, should have de-fetishised the armband by announcing England do not need a...