“We need to be realistic.”
Kyle Walker has said that it would be a “miracle” for England to win the World Cup this summer. For the tournament in Russia, England have been drawn alongside Tunisia, Panama and Belgium, and get their campaign underway against the North African nation on June 18 in Volgograd. Gareth Southgate’s team then play Panama and end the group stages with a match against group favourites Belgium.
England are expected to advance to the knock-out stages, but few are expecting too much from the team after that, including Walker.
The Manchester City full-back, who has been named in the PFA Team of the Year, has said that the national team need to be “realistic” about their aims for the tournament.
“To win the World Cup is going to be a miracle,” Walker told talkSPORT on Wednesday morning.
“But we have got the players to do it. A lot of us play in probably the best league in the world. We’ve got the players to do it, but have we got the experience going further along in competitions? No, we haven’t. Not in recent years. We need to be realistic. There are a lot of good teams out there and our record in tournaments has not been fantastic.”
The team also appear to have discussed the past failures of England at tournaments. “We’ve had a lot of conversations inside the camp,” Walker continued.
“England haven’t won a knockout game for God knows how many years, so for us to go there and win a knockout game, that would be a step in the right direction.”
The Three Lions last won a knockout game at an international tournament way back in 2006, when they beat Ecuador 1-0 at the World Cup in Germany.
The starting XI that day was:
Paul Robinson; Owen Hargreaves, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole; David Beckham, Michael Carrick, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole; Wayne Rooney.
Since then, England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. They were knocked out of the 2010 World Cup in the last-16 by Germany and by Italy in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012. At the 2014 World Cup, they failed to get out of their group and didn’t win a game. At Euro 2016, they suffered a shock defeat in the last-16 to Iceland.
So, Walker is probably right to be cautious about their chances this summer.
