England should use the World Cup as a practice run? What nonsense | Paul Wilson

The squad is young enough to be more or less intact in 2022 but Gareth Southgate’s players must go for broke in Russia

This is the phoney-war period before the World Cup, the last couple of friendlies are about to commence and in the absence of actual football to talk about side issues such as Raheem Sterling’s tattoos are being blown up into big news. ’Twas ever thus, though admittedly body-art representations of assault rifles are something new, but what is conspicuously absent from the buildup this time is the old fashioned “England expects” note of patriotic fervour.

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from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2xAfVPs