Football

World Cup 2022: Ex-England Star Claims ‘If we beat France, we go on to win it’

World Cup 2022: Ex-England Star Claims ‘If we beat France, we go on to win it’

Former England player Paul Ince has said that he believes that England can win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar if they go on to beat France at the quarter-final stage.

The Three Lions go head to head with the reigning World Cup champions and old enemy, France, on Saturday after they defeated Senegal 3-0 in the final round of 16 last weekend.

Ince, now manager at Reading in the EFL championship in England, spoke about England’s tournament so far in positive terms. He claimed that the side’s performances, except for their 0-0 draw with the USA,  have been “clean cut.”

“It’s been all about getting through the group stages and looking at who we’ve got next,” Ince said.

“Against Senegal I thought we looked shaky at the start,” he continued, “Sarr should have scored and we could have found ourselves 2-0 down.”

“You can’t afford to do that against the French,” Ince cautioned,  “you’ll get punished against better sides.”

Ince said that Senegal were ultimately defeated by England due to their indiscipline upon going a goal down.

“Senegal conceded, lost their discipline and then were open,” he said, “It made it an easy game for England.”

Belief in England

“I expected England to at least get to the quarter-finals with the group they have,” the football manager said, “With the quality we’ve got I expected that and now is the tester to see how good we are.”

Ince went on to detail the top quality players which he believes the current England squad possesses. The Reading boss believes that if they can progress past France, who won the 2018 World Cup held in Russia, they can win the Qatar World Cup outright.

“I’d love England to win it,” he said,  “They’ve got the squad and the togetherness, they’ve got world class players.

“If we can get past the French, I think we go on to win it,” Ince claimed with caution,  “They’ve got Mbappe who’s the main man.”

The French Threat

Ex-Manchester United star Ince believes that Southgate may solidify his side at the back in order to deal with the threat of Mbappe and his attacking accomplices.

“Whether he [Southgate] will go to a five at the back I don’t know,” Ince explained, “He might want to play Walker and Trippier down that side to try and contain him.”

“It’s not just Mbappe, you’ve got Giroud who is scoring goals and has been unbelievable.”

“It’s an opportunity for England as they have no Kante, no Pogba, no Benzema. Imagine if they had all those players,” still, Ince has hope that England can take advantage of some of the French’s defensive frailties, “It’s a great opportunity for them to go forward.”

Reading Surprise in Championship

Ince’s Reading side currently occupy 13th in the EFL Championship table. The side were expected to be amongst the relegation contenders this year after they barely stayed up last season, however, Ince and his squad have done much better than expected.
In a tightly packed and competitive league table, the team, on 29 points, sit just two points off the play-off places with 9 wins and two draws from 21 games.

 

 


Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!