No dickheads, said Declan Rice. That’s the secret. Well, if it works for New Zealand at rugby, why not for England in football?
The All Blacks would famously sweep the dressing room after themselves but reporters were not allowed into England’s at Wembley on Tuesday to witness whether the millionaire footballers followed suit. We shall have to take Rice’s word for it, plus the evidence elsewhere, that this England team is bound by a new ethos, and a metal-coated mentality more readily observed among southern hemisphere egg-chuckers.
“We were watching the rugby the other night and saying about the top tiers. South Africa, New Zealand, that mindset of getting over the line. We can take lessons from that, leaving everything on the line if you want to win. That’s what we are striving to achieve. We have the talent. Now it’s about the mindset and that drive to be the best,” Rice said.
“One thing I’ve noticed with other nations, Germany, Italy, they want to perform. We are starting to become that now, a bit more savvy on the pitch, doing the dirty things.
“It has taken a bit more time, knowing how to win games, to see games out. We have kicked on and managed games so much better. It shows we are learning. I think that is another major step. Next summer is a chance to do something that English teams have never done. It’s a big aim and a big desire for us.”
It helps looking up and seeing Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane in your eyeline. Bellingham has become the touchstone every team needs, the English talisman from whom an invisible energy flows, flooding every member of the team with a shot of Jude juice.
“When he first started training with us it was like he was 30 years old,” Rice said.
“Now he is playing for Madrid he knows how good he is himself. He is playing with that confidence, that belief. We know how good he is. I always say the same thing to him before every game. You go and do what you need to do, I’m behind you.
“He knows with me he has that security to roam and be free, he has that protection behind him. I want to get that ball to him as quickly as possible. I want to make sure a player like him has as little defending to do as possible. I just want him to attack, get on the ball and show what he can do.”
And then there is the redoubtable skipper, Mr 61 goals and counting, our very own Mannschafter, Herr Harry Kane, who according to Rice has yet to reach his peak. Mein Gott.
“They used to say your prime is 27 and 28 but now so many players playing well into their 30s. H tonight, holding up the ball so well, so strong to get away for the goal like he did, composure for the penalty. To have someone like him as captain, so focused and level-headed, he is exactly the type of character we need leading our line, the perfect example.”
You know where this is leading. To Euro 2024 nirvana. A willingness to accept that England are good enough, and to not to be cowed by a label that places them among the favourites, is a necessary step that the players are willing to take. This means they don’t panic when they fall behind. We are England, we can do this.
“There is no need for fear. Went to Naples and won for the first time in ages. Beat Italy tonight after they beat us in the Euros. Put in some big performances. We are ready mentally. We went out in the World Cup but made another step in terms of the way we played against France. We lost in the finals of the Euros. We are getting a bit older, a bit more mature.”
As many battling an established psychological condition will know, identification and acceptance of any issue is central to recovery. England’s footballers are nearly there, shedding ancient feelings of inferiority in favour of a new power move in which they are the ones looking down.
Gareth Southgate is the one credited with coaxing England out of their old, negative attitudes.
The project has been seven years in the making, but after back-to-back wins against Italy, first away from home in Naples, a result not achieved since 1962, and at Wembley to seal qualification for Euro 2024, England proved their readiness to take on the challenge of being great.
It is this mental leap that most impressed against Italy, albeit against a diminished Azzurri vibe.
“We can do big things,” Rice said.
“Since the World Cup the reaction has been amazing. The challenge we set ourselves to qualify, we have done that. We have to be level-headed about it. We have one objective and that is to go and win on foreign soil.”
And underpinning all of this is the feeling of belonging engendered by Southgate. Remaking England, or more accurately, Club England, where fun and sunshine are on tap for everyone, is Southgate’s greatest contribution to the game.
“We just said then, we don’t really want to go home. We love coming here. Next camp is three weeks. We are all buzzing to get here again.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/ygYWuzp
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