Former England captain Wayne Rooney has criticised England sides in the past for not being “streetwise” enough – basically not being willing to turn to football’s dark arts in order to succeed. And while I’m not suggesting Dele Alli attempt a Maradona-style Hand of God, it was telling that despite Tunisia looking like a dirty, niggling team on Monday, it was only an England man – Kyle Walker – who came away from the match with a booking.
Simply put, it’s time for England to start behaving like some of their opponents – staying down after nastier tackles, teammates waving imaginary cards at the referee, and most importantly, really protesting for potential penalty calls. As we all saw on Monday, Harry Kane was practically rugby-tackled twice in the area but no penalty was given, quite possibly because England simply didn’t protest enough.
With Panama (judging on their showing against Belgium) being the sort of side who are likely to use the same spoiling tactics as Tunisia did – niggling fouls, a lot of time wasting and goading – then this factor could become even more important if Southgate’s men want to ensure a victory. Being morally superior is always nice but in a World Cup it doesn’t always get you the win. It’s time for the Three Lions to get a little nastier.