Harry Redknapp says England can win the World Cup
Harry Redknapp says Southgate’s England have a real shot at winning the World Cup, and picked his fantasy all-time World Cup-winning team when he spoke with Sports Gazette reporter Emily Victoria.
It doesn’t matter if you’re at the pub with an ice-cold frothy pint, or if you’re transfixed to the screen at home praying the kids will go to sleep (or at least keep quiet for 90 minutes), all eyes are going to be on Volgograd tonight.
That’s if you care at all about football. Or England.
Gareth Southgate has a huge job on his hands. All of England will be holding their breath in anticipation, praying he has picked the right team who can take us all the way.
Memories of Roy Hodson’s total calamity four years ago are suddenly still all too fresh. Especially when just two years later, Iceland happened. Let’s face it, it has been a long time since the glory days of 1966.
We need some magic from the boys to put Tunisia in their place and make a noise on the big stage. One of Harry Kane’s stonking strikes should do the trick.
Still, fans across the country might have a bit more faith had four years ago turned out differently. The Football Association were said to have “robbed” us of the greatest England manager there never was. Harry Redknapp.
Redknapp thinks the odds are in England’s favour this year, though. He said: “We have a good squad. I haven’t seen anything in the tournament so far that would scare me. [It’s] the most open World Cup I’ve seen in many years. I have a feeling it will be a surprise for some team this year, why not England?”
The 71-year-old could have been the difference England needed four years ago. But, as he pointed out, England have always faced the same issues at major tournaments. “They’ve always struggled with right backs,” he said just highlighting one of the many problems.
So, maybe Hodgson can be let off the hook because a manager can only do the best with the players he’s got, right? Or maybe not.
We’ve got a young, hungry squad going in tonight who have built bridges with the media and seem to have their heads screwed on.
They could well be all over Tunisia’s defensive style and have drills from the training ground down to a tee, but let’s hope they deliver electrifying, pulsating football in the final third – we’re all gasping for it. Especially against, as Southgate put it, “a tough team who like to play from the back.”
Could this World Cup finally inspire us and have young lads and lasses throwing down their books and tearing around the school playground pretending to be the next Jesse Lingard or Jordan Pickford? Redknapp thinks Southgate has made the right choice and is confident he’ll pick a solid starting lineup at the Volgogard Arena tonight.
But of all the best players who have ever lived, who would make the final cut for an all-time World Cup-winning team?
Which keeper would stop Cristiano Ronaldo’s formidable boot? Which number 10 would upset the likes of David De Gea?
Redknapp thinks his fantasy XI would do just that. And here is it:
1. Gordon Banks
2. Stuart Pearce
3. Bobby Moore (C)
4. Rio Ferdinand
5. Gary Neville
6. Bobby Charlton
7. Bryan Robson
8. Steven Gerrard
9. David Beckham
10. Geoff Hurst
11. Jimmy Greaves
With Bobby Moore as Captain could this team be world champions? Or would they not be able to keep up in this day and age what with all the new training facilities and breakthrough technology available now?
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