With their final warm-up game – a 2-0 victory over Costa Rica – over and done with, England are now heading to the World Cup in Russia in buoyant mood. Gareth Southgate’s side are now unbeaten in their last 10 games, which includes matches with Germany, Brazil and Italy.
The question now becomes, how far can they actually go in the tournament itself?
Most fans would be thankful for an appearance in the quarter-finals, but could England really go all the way? Here are 3 reasons that suggest they somehow might.
Their players are getting world-class coaching
The Premier League’s top clubs could suddenly boast a great deal of the world’s best coaches – Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino. And two years down the line, it looks like England’s players are benefiting hugely from the world-class coaching they’ve been receiving recently.
There’s less pressure – and fewer past scars
Admittedly, a great deal of the players likely to start in England’s first World Cup game against Tunisia were involved in the abject loss to Iceland at Euro 2016, but outside of that, the Three Lions finally have a group of players who aren’t carrying around the scars of past failures at major tournaments.
The team is full of goals
One of England’s problems in recent tournaments has been a distinct lack of goals – they scored just 4 at Euro 2016, and only 2 at the 2014 World Cup, although admittedly they only played three games there. If the 2017/18 season is anything to go by though, that promises to be different in Russia.
With goalscorers like these in England’s side, they should have a chance at outscoring anyone in the World Cup – which means they might surprise everyone by going far.