Gareth Southgate sees fearlessness and fitness as key to England’s ambitions

England manager wants his players to be mentally and physically ready for the World Cup in Russia and has liked what he has seen in the past week

Gareth Southgate tells a story, going back to his playing days with England and his last unhappy involvement in a World Cup, that probably sums up why he goes into the four‑month gap before the next international break in a much more confident mood about the psychology of the modern team.

Southgate was part of England’s World Cup squad in 2002 and an unused substitute on the day Ronaldinho’s free-kick sailed over David Seaman’s head to put Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team out of the tournament. The previous day, England had trained at the stadium in Shizuoka and Southgate started fearing the worst when the Brazilians arrived for their turn.

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