England kick off their campaign on Monday when they face Tunisia but Gary Lineker has already told the team to concentrate on the next one.
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Ultimately, results dictate the public mood and England hasn’t won a knockout game at any tournament since 2006. “Southgate may want to go with the player he can rely upon to be fit”.
England defender Phil Jones says he and his team-mates have a “tight bond” and they can not wait for their first World Cup game against Tunisia.
Southgate usually only tells his players who is starting on the day of the game, but explained to the press that in this case he was making an exception given the importance of the occasion, reported Xinhua news agency.
“He understands the way I play”, Lingard, now boasting 12 caps and a realistic chance of starting against Tunisia, said.
The knock is not expected to rule Rashford out of the tournament and the forward corroborated such reports when he issued a statement of his own on Wednesday evening on Twitter, which said: “Thanks for the messages I’ve been getting”.
“The more you watch a team, the more you start to see familiar patterns of play and how they build up”.
“We won’t be able to roll them over”, he added.
It is a system that makes England well suited to counter-attacking and playing in high-tempo matches.
Southgate made some big calls when selecting his 23-man World Cup squad and he is trying to get his players to take more risks on the pitch.
“I think it’s confidence, isn’t it?”
Warm-up win over Nigeria and Costa Rica stretched England’s unbeaten run to 10 games, stretching back a year, and including impressive friendly results against the likes of Brazil, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
Such considered tutelage coupled with the promise at his disposal has brought encouragement ahead of the World Cup, but it is underpinned by common sense. “We have to be about the collective”.
“With a slice of luck, Gareth’s bravery and some really good players in the squad, I am hoping they will come back and everyone is looking at them proudly”. They’re an in-form team.
“It depends what the expectation is, as to whether that’s matching what’s been there in the past”.
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“We wanted to get the right balance around the location in terms of travel, in terms of climate, and the quality of the training ground that is paired with that”.
