Both teams will relish the opportunity to progress to the quarter-finals where they will meet the victor of the tie between England and Colombia that kicks off later in the day.
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“We were driving back to our hotel in Malta with some obscene chants being thrown at us from supporters”, said the England coach, who notices a change after impressive displays in warm-up games and wins against Tunisia and Panama to start the World Cup.
“For this team, it’s a brilliant opportunity to go beyond where more experienced teams have gone before”.
“We’ve looked at individual processes, individual techniques”, Southgate said.
Asked what he learned from his first major worldwide tournament, Kane said: “For me, it’s stay away from the hype of it all”.
If James plays and is fit, his creativity is key to Colombia and if he misses it all the responsibility it will be down to wide players Juan Cuadrado and Juan Quintero, whose set pieces have been a key weapon for Colombia so far in Russian Federation. “The manager’s come in with great ideas, the formation suits us perfectly”, said Lingard. “I have confidence in my own ability to take one”.
Asked whether England had achieved their objective by finishing second to Belgium in Group G, Lingard replied: “Obviously we’re going to have to play the big teams sooner or later. It’s definitely not chance if you might or might not score”.
England legend Alan Shearer has dismissed the notion of an “easier” path through the World Cup knockout stages – and fears that the nation’s arrogance could be their downfall. It did not go do well in Serbia, but the pair received fines rather than bans for their political statements and are free to play against Sweden in the last 16.
“It’s a different game tomorrow, We know how tough the opposition is, you can see how tight all of the knockout matches are”, Southgate said.
“Then it’s Sweden or Switzerland. We aren’t going to change for no one and no team”.
“For now we’re family and we’ve really got a strong bond at the moment between everyone”.
The Tottenham striker’s odds of winning the prize for the World Cup’s top goalscorer were slashed when Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal were eliminated by Uruguay on Saturday, leaving the world player of the year one short of Kane’s tally.
It is only a matter of months since he bid farewell to his own teenage years but while Mbappe is primed for superstar status, Rashford has too often had to settle for cameos with United and England in recent times.
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“I will be talking a lot with him between now and the game – and we will have a plan”. But it’s not just the goals that sets Kane apart from his more recent predecessors.
