John Stones believes he and his Manchester City team-mates are helping to bring some of Pep Guardiola’s influence into England’s World Cup campaign. Stones produced arguably his finest display in international colours as England came through a bruising 1-1 draw against Colombia in Moscow on Tuesday before prevailing on penalties to book a quarter-final clash with Sweden.
Club-mates Kyle Walker and Raheem Sterling have been mainstays of Gareth Southgate’s first-choice XI in Russia along with Stones, while City midfielder Fabian Delph has also featured and is back with the squad after returning home for the birth of his third child. England fans looking for positive omens amid the growing wave of “It’s Coming Home” optimism in their homeland might look to the identity of the past two World Cup winners. Barcelona and Bayern Munich were both coached to league title successes by Guardiola in 2009-10 and 2013-14 respectively before their players provided the nucleus of Spain and Germany’s runs to World Cup glory.
“I think going into the Pep effect – he’s definitely had it on us City boys and we’ve tried to bring what we’ve learned off him into the England squad,” said Stones, who won his first Premier League title at the Etihad Stadium last term.
“Bringing in a fresh idea – not on the whole game – but on certain aspects of it. Everyone does that from their clubs and managers. That’s why I think we have got a great combination of players.”