England ‘excited not nervous’ as they face moment of truth in Moscow | Daniel Taylor

Much has been said about this new England side but, if they can beat Croatia on Wednesday to reach the World Cup final, they would probably take even that in their stride

The last time England had this kind of rare opportunity Bobby Robson was being driven to the point of distraction by the footballer whom Gianni Agnelli, the president of Juventus, described during that run to the 1990 World Cup semi-finals as “a dog of war with the face of a child”.

Paul Gascoigne had, among other episodes, contributed to Bryan Robson’s absence because of a drunken prank in which a bed landed on the captain’s toe (achilles trouble, was the official line). Gascoigne broke curfews as a habit, spooked Bobby Robson into thinking he had fallen off a balcony and come to an arrangement with the hotel barman that, when he ordered a milkshake, it was in fact Baileys.

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