Dele Alli and England Drop Their Guard and Their Past

England has a very young but experienced squad. I can't think of a player in the starting line up that hasn't had their share of start for their clubs. It all comes down to discipline. They can't underestimate every team they come up against, as they have in the past.

Yeah. Sure. Now let’s get real: England is always the most overrated team at the World Cup. Why? The English press gets way more credibility than it deserves (and not just with respect to soccer). Hoping for the perfect group stage results: Uruguay, Croatia, and Mexico make it through. Brazil, Germany, and England get eliminated.

He only cost 5 Mil / He's better than Ozil...

Nice piece! Come on England!

Why in god's name would the united states be interested in this third-world game? It is incredibly boring.....

Slight tangent, but it does make me chuckle when the introduction of a three-man defence is seen as some strange and daring adventure, all shiny and new. Those of us of a certain age well remember playing that system into the '70s - back three (centre-half and fullbacks), middle four (half-backs and inside-forwards) and front three (centre-forward and wingers). It was only the somewhat slavish adoption of 'continental' (mainland Europe) formats that cast aside that original system of play. There's nothing new under the sun, and all that...

(This is not a post apropos for this article, but it's not inappropriate either. I can't find the article to which it ought to be attached to. But I want to share this sentiment so strongly, that I put it here, for lack of a better place.) What was going through Renaldo's mind when he prepared for his third goal against Spain? Maybe there is literature out there on that already. My guesses are: - he prayed - he was calculating distance, weight, speed, wind direction and weight distribution of ball as well as height the defenders can't reach by jumping up, and the goalkeeper's expectations and what distance and time of arrival of ball would be beyond his ability to react properly - he was singing his favourite song - he tried to remember his coaches' coaching - he thought of his country and his king - he thought of his team and his camerades - he thought of his mother - he thought of his love - he thought of football: Tubular Bells, the Entrance of the Grand Vizier, Butterflies and Fantasies, fresh cut flowers with the sweet perfume, Pictures at an Exhibition, Strawberry Fields Forever, the Beautiful Game.

England's greatest problem is that English players have to compete with players from all over the world for a place in a English Premier League team - some of which don't have a single English player, instead resembling global all-star teams built by a tycoon's wallet, rather than a youth program and a great manager to nurture young talent. So they don't get the exposure to the game at the top level. It wasn't always this way: consider the fact that when Scottish team Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup, back in '67, every player on the team was born in Glasgow. Unthinkable and impossible today.

Hopefully England games will be more entertaining as a result. In recent years they've been a good cure for insomnia. I remember when I started to go to league games, back in the 1950's, they were fun to watch. It's probably no coincidence that the only time England won the World Cup was in 1966.

Yeah, I’ve heard this before - every four years in fact. “This year it’s definitely ‘coming home’. We’ve got the best team in a long time...” ad infinitum.

Thanks for this. I’m an Arsenal supporter. The first thought after seeing the list of Southgate’s final roster was where are the Arsenal players? Completely misses the point made in this article. I always felt that the bloody heroes of the EPL during the prior period - Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, etc. - never could get past themselves to make the powerful English team they should have. Here’s to hope!