Big Midweek: England’s last chance, Dier vs Henderson, TAA

Game to watch – England vs Costa Rica
There was something very comical about England preparing to face Tunisia – North African, defensive, pragmatic – by playing Nigeria – West African, attacking, carefree – but Costa Rica should actually provide a pretty good rehearsal for England’s second group stage game against Panama.

England know Costa Rica, of course, having faced them in the dead rubber third match of their disappointing 2014 World Cup campaign. The same spine from that Costa Rica squad remains, and that is not intended as a compliment. The expectation is that outside of the Americas and with an ageing squad, Oscar Ramirez’s team will struggle to make it past the group stage.

Gareth Southgate will therefore hope to sign off for Russia with another win, but also demand that England produce a more consistent, rounded performance than they did against Nigeria. That was a call-back to the bad old days of Sven Goran Eriksson and his ‘first half good, second half bad’. England cannot afford to go AWOL in the World Cup.

It will also be interesting to see if Southgate continues with the 3-5-2 formation that contains only one obvious holding midfielder, in preparation for facing Panama and Tunisia, against whom England will hope to dominate possession and territory. In both of those matches the struggle will be to break down two banks of four. The handbrake must be taken off to break through the wall at speed.

Southgate’s other great desire will be for his England side to improve their attacking efficiency. Any chance to take your foot off the gas is crucial when playing up to seven games in four weeks. Against Nigeria, England could have scored three first-half goals but almost paid for their profligacy. Don’t make the same mistakes in Russia.

This is the last chance for the England team to leave supporters at home full of goodwill, rather than worried about flaws in the squad that will be exposed over the subsequent fortnight. There will always be those who look to undermine the national team, but going on tour to Yorkshire should ensure that 35,000 supporters will cheer their heroes off. Good god I’m excited.

Player to watch – Trent Alexander-Arnold
Reports suggest that Southgate will ring the changes against Costa Rica, allowing those who didn’t appear for long or at all against Nigeria to get some minutes in legs that haven’t tasted match football for a month.

For Trent Alexander-Arnold, it’s slightly different. He joined the England squad later having been given extra recuperation time following the Champions League final, and watched on as Kieran Trippier was one of England’s better players against Nigeria. Now comes his chance to stake a claim for a starting spot.

It would be no disaster if Alexander-Arnold remained on the bench throughout in Russia. He is still young and has been taken as much for experience as utility. Trippier is a more natural wing-back and his set pieces against Nigeria were excellent, while Alexander-Arnold has played at right-back and in midfield for Liverpool, but not as a wing-back.

Still, having earned a seat on the plane, Alexander-Arnold is not in the business of settling. Should he excel against Costa Rica, the calls will grow for Southgate to make the most of the exuberance of his youth. Maximising a feel-good mood can be very powerful indeed.

Manager to watch – Phil Neville
Such is the gap between haves and have-nots in the women’s international game, England were virtually assured of at least a play-off spot in their World Cup qualifying group and had top spot theirs to lose. Their Group 1 opponents include Russia (ranked 26) and Wales (ranked 34), but neither possess the squad depth to trouble England.

If that provided Phil Neville with a tap-in to reach the World Cup, it also reduced the margin for error. Before he took the job, England had won 31 of their previous 33 qualifying matches, drawing two against France and Spain. Neville promptly drawing against Wales was therefore not in the script. Only victories in every other qualifier will do.

On Friday teatime, England travel to Russia to face the third-placed team in their group. Last September, Mark Sampson’s team beat Russia 6-0 at Tranmere Rovers’ Prenton Park. Despite the absence of captain Steph Houghton with a knee injury, only another comfortable will be considered satisfactory.

Team to watch – England Under-21s
After their record-breaking 2017, there is suddenly a great focus on England’s youth teams. That’s a very good thing: Focus brings pressure and scrutiny, which prepares players for the step up to the senior side.

Another welcome result of England’s recent success is that clubs seem far more willing to release players. Aidy Boothroyd’s squad for this summer’s Toulon tournament contains far more experience than ever before, including six players with Premier League experience last season and several key performers for Championship sides.

Drawing against Mexico was a misstep, given that it pushed England into second place in Group A, but any disaster was avoided with a 4-0 win over Qatar that guaranteed qualification for the semi-finals as the best runner-up. That sets up a knockout tie against Scot Gemmill’s Scotland, conquerors of France in the group stage.

Boothroyd will hardly say as much in public, but he must be delighted to avoid France. England beat Scotland 3-0 at this exact stage of the Toulon tournament last year en route to their triumph. A repeat would put them into a strong position to become only the second country (after France) to win three consecutive editions of the competition. The talent really is there.

One-on-one battle to watch – Jordan Henderson vs Eric Dier
There are very few places up for grabs in England’s World Cup start XI. Harry Maguire and Gary Cahill probably compete for one spot and Trippier probably has the edge over Alexander-Arnold, but that looked about it.

And then Southgate picked Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard in midfield against Nigeria, and raised hopes that he could opt for an attacking strategy in England’s two group games before facing Belgium. And if there really is only room for one defensive midfielder, it looks like a straight fight between Henderson and Dier.

Right now, you’d say the position is Henderson’s to lose. He will start against Costa Rica having been given an extended break following the Champions League final, and Dier looked uncomfortable against Nigeria. The Tottenham player constitutes a threat at set pieces, but has gone from key England player to possible non-starter very quickly.

With Henderson’s forward passing improving under Klopp, a solid display on Thursday should be enough. Either that, or Southgate will pick both of them against Tunisia and I’ve completely misjudged this. It wouldn’t be the first time.

International game to watch – Belgium vs Egypt
It always jars a little bit watching matches between two World Cup teams before the tournament, like having your birthday a week before Christmas Day. I understand why it has to happen, because not everyone can play Netherlands, Italy and USA and countries want to test their World Cup strategies against decent teams. But the brilliance of watching the World Cup is seeing teams who would never normally play each other face up; these preliminaries slightly erode that sensation.

Still, I’m not stupid so obviously we should all watch these games. On Friday evening Germany play Saudi Arabia in a repeat of the 2002 group stage game, but on Wednesday evening Belgium play Egypt. A must-watch for England supporters looking to see how the seeds in Group G stack up.

Egypt’s plans have been thrown into disarray by Mohamed Salah’s injury, but if reports that he will miss the first group game are correct, Thursday gives Hector Cuper the chance to try and thwart a strong team without Salah. That may prove crucial in planning for the Uruguay match a week on Friday. Cuper – ever the pragmatist – would celebrate a 0-0 draw in that fixture like a lottery win. It would likely be enough to give Egypt the platform they need to qualify for the knockout stages.

As for Belgium, we get to see how Roberto Martinez will arrange his spectacular attacking options and far less stellar defence, particularly after the injury sustained by Vincent Kompany. Romelu Lukaku is likely to be supported by Dries Mertens and Eden Hazard, with Kevin de Bruyne and Axel Witsel in central midfield.

Can you read much into the result of a pre-tournament friendly? Nope. Will it be high-intensity fare? Nope. Are you going to watch it anyway because you’re desperate with World Cup excitement? Oh yes.

Daniel Storey