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      Richarlison wouldn’t make the England squad, Brazilians are always hyped but I think he’s no better than Callum Wilson

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      HERE we go at last with the greatest show on earth and fingers crossed England will finally go all the way.I’ve no doubt they can but you do need a bit of magic to win a World Cup and I think Gareth Southgate has just the man for the job.
      Harry Redknapp writes exclusively for The SunCredit: Louis Wood
      He believes that Jack Grealish must start for the Three Lions against IranCredit: Getty
      Now it’s just a case of picking him and I have to be honest and admit I have my doubts as to whether that will happen.
      I’ve said before if Jack Grealish played for any other country, they’d build the whole team around him.
      But when it comes to England he struggles to even get in, from the start at least.
      Let’s be honest, England begin their tournament against Iran and, with all due respect, they shouldn’t give us any trouble.
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      So it is a chance to really get at them and show what fantastic attacking players we’ve got — which means Grealish MUST start for me.
      It is not just me who is a big fan of the Manchester City star either.
      I watched him against Chelsea in the League Cup this month and just wanted him to get the ball.
      And I remember speaking to Harry Kane and him telling me he loves to play with Jack because of those little balls he plays into the pockets around the box.
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      It’s those 15-yard passes when he backs in, turns and gets a shot off.
      That works with Harry so much and Grealish is the perfect man to provide the service.
      I always loved to work on that with every team I’ve had and Jack just loves making an angle and getting that ball into his feet.
      It might not be the first England partnership that springs to mind but it’s one I could see causing problems for any side in the world.
      And it should certainly cause plenty for Iran.
      Jack would always be one of the first names on my teamsheet but for some reason Gareth never seems to fancy him.
      I don’t want to see him coming on late in games to try and change them — I really want him on from the kick-off.
      Look, it’s Iran, so we will dominate the ball and we need players who can make a difference against a side that will sit in.
      We need matchwinners and players who can beat people and make things happen.
      And for me that means we need obviously Grealish.

      Richarlison would not get anywhere near Harry Redknapp’s England teamCredit: Rex
      I feel with the likes of Harry, Jack, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka buzzing around —  not to mention Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford — we have some fantastic attackers.
      Everyone goes on about Brazil’s forwards but look at our stars and it’s amazing.
      Spurs’ Richarlison is in Qatar and might even be in Brazil’s team but I honestly don’t think he’d get in the England squad.
      He’s decent enough but I really don’t see him as any better than Callum Wilson, and certainly nowhere near Kane’s class. And there are a couple of others I’d probably have ahead of him as well.
      Because he’s Brazilian, everyone raves about him but I’m telling you our options are just as good.
      I only hope they prove it this time, because once we’re out of the group — and we will be, there’s not the slightest doubt about that —  I would fancy England against any team in a one-off match.
      Maybe we wouldn’t win nine times out of ten but there’s certainly no side we should be scared of.
      It does come down to the luck of the draw and the path you get through the tournament — but why shouldn’t it be England?
      I’d love to think this is our time again but if not I’ve a funny feeling it could be the Lionel Messi show.
      I just have a hunch he could take the World Cup by storm and — if it is not England — I’d probably just about go for Argentina.
      But that’s only if it isn’t England and hopefully this time it will be as we’ve waited long enough! More

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      Qatar ready for World Cup curtain-raiser, but you wouldn’t normally bother opening them for this underwhelming kick-off

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      AFTER a dozen years of raging controversy over corruption, tragedies and hideous human-rights abuses, we finally get to the actual football.This may be a World Cup in a nation which is too small, played at the wrong time of year and in a culture alien to most of us.
      Qatar and Ecuador will meet in the World Cup curtain raiser at the Al Bayt StadiumCredit: Getty
      The 22nd World Cup gets underway in Qatar on SundayCredit: AP
      But, four weeks from now, that famous golden trophy will be lifted and champions will be crowned.
      Fifa’s increasingly-deranged boss Gianni Infantino — a man who staged a love-in with Vladimir Putin at the last World Cup — has been ordering us to concentrate on football rather than politics.
      So here we go then, at 4pm UK time, a curtain-raiser to the greatest sporting jamboree on Earth which you normally wouldn’t open your curtains to watch if it was being played in your back garden.
      Qatar, ranked 50th in the world, against Ecuador, 44th in the standings — two nations who possibly shouldn’t even be at the World Cup at all.
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      Hosts Qatar have never qualified for the finals, while their opponents have been up to their necks in bother over the eligibility of full-back Byron Castillo — an affair which almost saw them kicked out.
      And after this tournament, won by the Qataris under false pretences, was moved from summer to winter, this fixture was switched from Monday to Sunday in a World Cup that they are making up as they go along.
      At least the latest U-turn, the 11th-hour banning of alcohol inside stadiums — for rank-and-file supporters but not the corporate freeloaders, of course — could be seen as a minor triumph for human rights.
      Any beer lover will tell you that the inability to pay 12 quid for a Budweiser is a blessing rather than a curse.
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      To be in Doha in the build-up to this tournament is a deeply strange experience.
      This is a hastily-constructed, ultra-modern metropolis built around what was a small, traditional Arab city — at the cost of the lives of thousands of mistreated migrant workers — the skyscrapers as well as the tournament’s eight stadia, all within 30 miles of one another.
      But despite the cultural differences and the moral outrages, you can still discover pockets of World Cup fever.
      In central Doha, you will see thousands of locals walking around in replica Argentina shirts with Lionel Messi’s name and No 10 on their backs.
      As soon as their own team are dumped out — and Qatar are highly likely to follow South Africa as the only previous World Cup host nation to exit at the group stage — they will throw their weight behind Messi and Co.
      The little maestro’s move to Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain made sure of that.
      Downtown Doha is now starting to resemble the united-nations melting pot of previous World Cups — the Latin Americans, in particular, travelling in vast numbers as they always do.
      Scores of global TV companies have set up their studios in front of the Souq Waqif — the historic marketplace which gives their coverage a rare backdrop of authentic Arab culture in this marble-and-concrete jungle.
      Close by, dozens of soporific camels doze around.
      And at a neighbouring booth, tourists are invited to ‘Try On Qatari Dress — It’s Amazing!’
      But football fans must strive to find an oasis of western hedonism in this desert.
      On the 14th floor of a central hotel, there is an Irish bar serving Guinness at £15 a pint to supporters with deep pockets and raging thirsts from every corner of the globe.
      Qatar won the right to stage this World Cup, way back in 2010, thanks to Fifa corruption — with their crooked former boss Sepp Blatter recently admitting this had been a mistake due to the host nation’s inadequate size.
      As culture wars raged over migrant-worker deaths and the illegality of homosexuality in Qatar — as well as those beer prices — many who would normally follow England at major tournaments chose to stay well away.
      And that was before an appalling Qatari World Cup ambassador recently described homosexuality as a ‘damage of the mind’.
      These issues have completely overshadowed Qatar’s own footballing prospects.
      Their Spanish manager Felix Sanchez presides over a squad consisting entirely of players who compete in Qatar’s domestic league — and who have been frequently withdrawn from club matches to go on lengthy remote training camps.
      Sanchez said: “We consider ourselves very competitive and worthy of being here, even if the favourites, on paper, should be Ecuador.
      “We are a small country and have to work with what we’ve got. The players have spent long periods of time, making a massive sacrifice, being away from their families, outside of the country, to make sure we are as competitive as possible.”
      Given the brown-envelope culture which earned Qatar this World Cup, it was little surprise that Sanchez was asked about internet conspiracies suggesting Ecuador’s players had been offered bribes to throw Sunday’s opening match.
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      He replied: “There is a lot of dangerous misinform­ation on the internet but we have prepared for many years to prove we are strong and competitive.
      “Nobody will destabilise us, we are not affected by it and we are excited and motivated for this historic day.”
      The Al Bayt Stadium is ready to play host to the opening game of the World CupCredit: Getty More

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      Steven Gerrard was our leader in 2014, when we went out the energy drained from him, says Sun columnist Jack Wilshere

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      JACK WILSHERE has made his peace with no longer being a player.Now coaching the Arsenal Under-18s, Wilshere has become fully immersed in the all-  consuming life of planning training sessions, analysing data, systems, man-management and picking the team.
      Jack Wilshire is part of The Sun’s World Cup panelCredit: Louis Wood
      He will be providing our readers with his analysis on England’s campaignCredit: Reuters
      He was, of course, one of the most gifted midfielders of this generation — before injuries cruelly cut short his career.
      So now Wilshere has become a Sun World Cup columnist, who will be giving readers the benefit of his knowledge from competing on the biggest stages for Arsenal and England and  learning the ropes as a fledgling coach at the Emirates.
      Still only 30, a fully-fit Wilshere would probably have been in Qatar. But he’s not bitter, he’s philosophical about how life has turned out.
      Yet Wilshere still looks back on his England career wondering what might have been, with a plea to the current squad to make this opportunity count.
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      Wilshere said: “In 2018 when I was watching the World Cup on TV I was thinking, ‘I should have been there.’ It was difficult viewing.
      “I was close to selection and fit when Gareth picked the squad — but I’d got an injury during one of the earlier camps, which would have been the chance to show him what I could do. I still feel I should have gone though. But I’ve accepted I’m finished with playing.
      “I’ve got my head around it, I’m just concentrating on coaching and loving it.
      “Earlier in the season we played Tottenham and I was sat thinking about the game and how we would play, then one of my coaches asked if I missed being out there playing and I actually realised that I didn’t.
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      “I don’t get that feeling any more. That’s credit to the Under-18 team I’ve been working with, they’re top, they give everything — they make me think and challenge me.
      “Arsenal are doing so well now and I’m there in the directors’ box with my boss Per Mertesacker.
       “We are talking about the game and what we need to do to get our Under-18 players to that level.
      “My thought process is completely different to when I was a player.”
      Wilshere recalls when he knew the game was up for him on the field.
      He had gone to Denmark to try and resurrect his career after spells at Bournemouth and West Ham — but realised he was kidding himself that he could recover and get back to being the midfielder he once was.
      Wilshere added: “If I’m honest my body completely gave up in Denmark, which was really frustrating. People were looking at me and I wanted to show them what I was about.

      “I could still see the pictures in my head but my body wouldn’t allow me to get round the pitch to react to those images. It was mainly my ankle but I had a few problems with my knee as well. Strangely, since I stopped playing my ankle and knee are starting to feel good. Now it’s my back which is giving me problems!”
      A World Cup brings back bitter-sweet memories for Wilshere.
      He was chosen by Roy Hodgson for the 2014 tournament in Brazil — but England were out after two games having lost to Italy and Uruguay.
      His experience tells him that it is vital England start well in their opener against Iran on Monday, otherwise the campaign can unravel very quickly and stress levels go through the roof.
      He remembers how the pressure affected Hodgson and the captain Steven Gerrard, who quit the national team.
      Wilshere said: “When I went off to the World Cup it was a dream come true.
      “Then I was given the No 7 shirt which was David Beckham’s, who was my hero growing up, and it couldn’t have been better. But I didn’t start the first game, I just came on as we lost to Italy.
      “Then I didn’t feature in the Uruguay defeat and, by the time I played in the third match against Costa Rica, we were already out. And we had prepared what I thought was so well for the Italy match.
      “We even went for warm-weather training in Portugal, wore big coats and bin bags to acclimatise for the humidity in Manaus, we put a lot of importance on that game.
      “But we were told to let Andrea Pirlo have the ball because, although he was a gifted player, his legs had gone. What a mistake that was. He was the best player on the pitch, we couldn’t get near him.
      “You could feel pressure building up after Italy — and could see the stress in the manager’s eyes. It’s tough being in the camp when it’s going wrong.
      Steven Gerrard’s mistake let Luis Suarez score and knockout England in 2014Credit: Getty Images – Getty
      “Then we lost the game against Uruguay that we couldn’t really afford to lose and Stevie G gave a goal away when he headed it on to Luis Suarez for their winner.
      “Like Beckham, Stevie G was an idol of mine, so to be in the same England World Cup squad as him was a big thrill — but I ended up feeling so sorry for him.
      “He was our captain and leader of the group. He had been fantastic with me but, after that game, the energy just drained away from him.
      “We were out and he’d given a goal away. He wasn’t really a loud type, he led by the examples he set.
      “Me, Danny Welbeck and Luke Shaw had watched him as one of England’s best players as we grew up. We looked up to him.
      “However, you could see in his demeanour that he was very low and it was tough to see your leader like that. He’d been through it before at World Cups and this was the end for him.
      “So my overriding feeling was I felt sorry for him, I really did. But that’s what tournaments like this can do to you.
      “All fans are focused on it, the pressures are huge — and starting well is so important to build momentum.
      “Hopefully for our captain this time it will be a happy story.
      “I don’t want to be writing about England disappointment, I want to be telling Sun readers how England won it.” More

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      Troy Deeney: England have World Cup 2022 squad capable of going all the way… but Southgate’s lack of Plan B a concern

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      GARETH SOUTHGATE has picked a squad capable of going all the way at the World Cup this winter.But my main concern is what to do if Plan A isn’t working?
      Southgate’s squad is capable of winning the tournamentCredit: EPA
      All but James (standing far left) will be going to Qatar to play for EnglandCredit: Reuters
      SunSport’s Deeney has picked the team he thinks Southgate will select to face Iran
      Southgate’s system has taken England to a level we’ve not seen for a long time at the last two tournaments.
      But what if that comes unstuck late on in a game?
      In England squads of old there would always be a Peter Crouch figure — or even Rickie Lambert —  who could come on and be the focal point for a late bombardment.
      We’ve got some incredible crossers of the ball in Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold, but there isn’t really anyone for them to hit when England need to mix things up.
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      I for one certainly don’t want to see Harry Kane battling for headers, he needs to be the one having the ball knocked down to him so he can finish.
      I fear they’ll just keep playing passes slowly forward and get the midfielders and wing-backs into attacking positions, even if it’s not quite working.
      James Maddison
      There was always going to be a lot of noise around James, whether he was in Southgate’s squad or not.
      It might have been three years since his one and only cap for England, but he HAD to be part of this group.
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      England’s 26-man squad for the World Cup
      I can’t see him starting many games, if any, but he could be the maverick that England need when things get tough.
      He’s got bags of self-belief — and he and Jack Grealish are two players who you just need to give the ball to and let them do what they do.
      Some teams will back off and ask England to try and break them down.
      That is where he will make a difference and get into those little pockets of space as he does for Leicester.
      He is the sort to try a difficult pass or a 30-yard shot, he might even bend a crucial free-kick into a top corner.
      He’s a wonderful option to have off the bench, a great asset if we’re chasing the game or struggling to break through.
      Maddison has been drafted in for the World Cup after his unstoppable formCredit: PA
      Ivan Toney
      I thought Southgate would only take two out-and-out strikers.
      If things go to plan then only one of them, Kane, is really going to be playing, but I would still have liked to see Toney get in there.
      He offers some thing different, he could have been that physical presence needed for a different approach.
      Ivan isn’t a physical presence in the old sense — he’s not a big lump like me — he can still run, still play and do all required from a modern-day No 9.
      But he’s also got the know-how from playing in the lower leagues and could rough people up a bit.
      He’s also arguably the best penalty taker in the Prem. I thought we may have learned our lesson a bit from the Euros last year.
      If we’re going to end up with penalties, instead of throwing Marcus Rashford on at right-back late on, why not Ivan?
      He is used to taking high-pressure penalties. I wanted him there for a shootout.
      Toney has missed out with Kane being the only out-and-out striker in the squadCredit: Getty
      Conor Coady
      One person I am pleased to see going to Qatar is Coady.
      Just like at the last Euros, he might not even get on the pitch at all in the Middle East, but he is such a good character to have around the squad.
      Similar to Jordan Henderson, he is a fantastic leader.
      I dealt with both of them a lot during the captains’ meetings during the pandemic. Whenever you’re around Conor he is a calming influence.
      Everton loan defender Conor and Jordan know what is required of the fringe players.
      There’s the first 11 and ultimately you need 10 or 11 cheerleaders, to push them daily and make sure they’re at the peak of their powers.
      On-loan Everton ace Coady is on the plane, being picked over Fikayo Tomori and Marc GuehiCredit: Getty
      Midfield is key
      Most of the starting XI is decided. I would say eight or nine starters, barring injury, are nailed on.
      I’d build my team around Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham. Those two could be the midfield pairing for ten years.
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      The back five is straightforward, Trippier and Luke Shaw are my wing-backs  with Kyle Walker (who was England’s best player at Euro 2020 last summer), John Stones and Harry Maguire making the three.
      Either side of Kane is where you can move things around, with great options in Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling or Mason Mount.
      Rice and Bellingham could be England’s midfield for the next decadeCredit: Kevin Quigley-The Daily Mail More

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      Harry Redknapp: James Maddison one of my two favourite Prem players… in ANY other country he’d be on plane to World Cup

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      ASSUMING the hospitals aren’t full of broken England players, we are entering a big week for Gareth Southgate.The Three Lions manager names his 26-man squad for the World Cup on Thursday.
      James Maddison has been in exceptional form for some time now and Harry Redknapp is a big fanCredit: Reuters
      Maddison’s only England cap came back in 2019Credit: AFP or licensors
      Right now, it’s a wonder he will fill the team coach with so many players going down injured – such a dilemma for managers of both clubs and country.
      It’s natural that players with World Cup hopes will have the tournament on their minds, even though their only concern is the next Premier League match – and rightly so.
      Trying to pick a squad is almost as exhausting as a training session in the Qatar heat.
      England seem blessed in some positions but recent fitness issues leave Southgate down to the bare bones in others.
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      Defence is a nightmare in particular. I was so sorry to see Ben Chilwell become the latest casualty, with his hamstring injury playing for Chelsea, and I wish him a speedy recovery.
      As a manager, I always loved exciting, attacking players who can do the unexpected. Footballers with a touch of the artist within.
      It’s why I am such a huge fan of James Maddison. Him and Jack Grealish are two of my favourite midfielders.
      But Maddison, in particular, I feel especially sorry for. He is playing well in a struggling team this season at Leicester.
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      Six league strikes tells you he still has his eye for a goal and his drive for the team is impressive.
      In any other country, a player like Maddison would be on the plane to the World Cup without a moment’s hesitation.
      He is a clever player but, unfortunately for him, there are a lot of them around at present.
      Grealish, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount – not all exactly the same, but all players who can unlock opposition teams.
      Given the nature of international football these days and maybe a little to do with the conditions despite air-conditioned stadiums – there will be a lot of tight games.
      Grealish, Maddison and the others will be needed more than ever to make a breakthrough.
      Up front we are in good shape. Harry Kane, barring a disaster, is clearly the leader of the dressing room. In terms of out-and-out strikers I’d also take Ivan Toney and Callum Wilson.
      Wilson, I know, had his injury problems but he is in great form at the moment.
      Sun Columnist Redknapp would love Maddison to go to the World CupCredit: PA
      Redknapp has been massively impressed by Jude Bellingham captaining Dortmund and 19Credit: Getty
      Sure, it’s a gamble taking him and he hasn’t played for England for three years. But at every tournament there seems to be a surprise player who comes from nowhere into the reckoning.
      Putting him and Brentford’s Toney alongside Kane would be the perfect trio to choose from. All three are experienced penalty-takers, too.
      With those close games coming, it would be an asset for Southgate to be able to bring on three experienced penalty-takers. Instead of having to rely on rookies such as Jadon Sancho and Saka to cope with that pressure like they did last summer at the Euro 2020 final.
      In midfield, I am such a fan of Jude Bellingham. To be captain of Borussia Dortmund at 19 tells you a lot of what this boy is about.
      What a few weeks this lad could have. I am so looking forward to seeing his maturity up against the best in the world.
      The rest of the midfield picks itself but I would take James Ward-Prowse. What a club player he is. A proper midfielder, as I would say. A great all-rounder who should be at a top-six club.
      In defence, we are so short it’s a case of every man standing coming along.
      By the way, I can’t understand the debate about Trent Alexander-Arnold. He can look vulnerable to a ball inside him, or to balls at the back post. But it’s nothing that 20 minutes extra a day wouldn’t solve.
      At Portsmouth I had similar issues with Glen Johnson. He relied so much on pace that his positioning sometimes went out of kilter.
      Alexander-Arnold is just the same — but reset him and he can be a huge asset to the squad.

      MEMORIES OF RONNIE
      Hereford fans paid tribute to Ronnie Radford ahead of their FA Cup first round tieCredit: PA
      IT was so sad to hear about the passing of Ronnie Radford this week.
      His stunning goal against Newcastle in the 1972 FA Cup should be cherished forever as an iconic moment in the competition.
      That was the third round of course and, in the fourth, West Ham went to Edgar Street fearing another upset. I was playing for the Hammers at the time.
      We drew 0-0 there and the replay would make for a great quiz question. Due to an energy crisis, much like today’s, the replay was not under the lights in midweek but played on a Monday lunchtime to save us putting on the floodlights at Upton Park.
      There was also a three-day week in operation at the time so more than 42,000 people squeezed into Upton Park and on the roof of the flats behind the old North Bank. What an image that was.
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      Geoff Hurst had little time for the romance of the Cup — sticking a hat-trick past Hereford.
      But what a performance from Ronnie and the Hereford lads. God bless. More

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      Troy Deeney: Injuries are part of the game. Players won’t be going easy before World Cup – in the Prem that’s impossible

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      INJURIES and bad luck are a part of elite sport.I heard on talkSPORT people were debating whether we should stop the last round of Premier League games to protect players going to the World Cup.
      Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell is the latest England player facing World Cup woe after injury, but the string of bad luck is nothing sinisterCredit: Alamy
      Enngland skipper Harry Kane has promised to keep giving his all for Spurs despite the World Cup being just three weeks awayCredit: Getty
      Come on, really?
      There will be players who miss out on FA Cup or Champions League finals, NBA stars or those in the NFL who miss out, too.
      It is about being fit at the right time and being in form, and it is untimely but England have had a spurt of injuries.
      But if this was any normal season, players would be getting injured now anyway, with fixtures coming thick and fast and the previous campaign taking a toll.
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      I remember Declan Rice saying he played 68 games last season and now he is playing week in, week out.
      But the law of averages suggests that if you aren’t given a proper rest, you will probably get injured.
      It is just the demand of being one of the biggest players in your position.
      Ben Chilwell was injured last year, too, so it isn’t anything new for him to be sidelined — it is just unfortunate.
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      Harry Kane said he will not take a backwards step in these last few games, and that’s how it should be. At that level, if you are off it by five per cent, it shows.
      If you’re thinking a player can just potter about in a Prem game, not put too many tackles in and avoid any chance of getting injured, you’re wrong. It is impossible.
      If Rice decides not go into a tackle properly, do you think West Ham fans will say, ‘Ah, it’s okay, he is saving himself for England’. Absolutely not.
      You are either at it or not.
      Harry Kane said he will not take a backwards step in these last few games, and that’s how it should be. At that level, if you are off it by five per cent, it shows.Troy Deeney
      If David Moyes or any boss sees that, they will go, ‘Nah, that ain’t happening. You think you’re too good for us?’
      There is also the other angle. If you pull out of tackles to avoid injury in the Prem,  then  get selected but don’t play a minute at the World Cup, the first thing your manager is going to say is, ‘Are you going to play properly this week?’
      Let’s say a player goes further and tells his manager, ‘I’m not going to play in the last weekend of games’, he may still get injured in the week leading up to the World Cup. What do we blame then? The training?
      Playing for the national team is the biggest honour you can have. But it only comes from the hard work you put in with your club, so I don’t think you can change who you are.
      I’ve seen players go off to international duty and nothing changed in their personality the two or three weeks before it.
      We also need to come away from this notion we’re the only nation losing players to injury — with Timo Werner being the most recent for Germany.
      If Neymar or Lionel Messi miss out, will we be reacting in the same way? No, we will be thinking we have a chance here to win, so we have to take the rough with the smooth.
      Gareth Southgate has a valid reason, if the current injury doubts miss out, to suggest this will not be his strongest England squad. But I don’t think we can have many excuses. Our depth is ridiculous. We have a wonderful squad regardless.
      If Kane goes down, the people coming in are not world class yet — but only because they haven’t had their chance.
      With Chilwell out, Brentford’s Rico Henry would do really well.
      If Kyle Walker and Reece James don’t make it, you are “only” left with Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
      If Kane goes down, the people coming in are not world class yet — but only because they haven’t had their chance.
      We went to World Cups with Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe as back-ups, who weren’t considered world class, and I didn’t hear many complaints.
      We are creating excuses and a narrative as to why we can’t win the World Cup — or go far in Qatar. For once, let’s not build that safety net.

      CALL UP CALLUM AND SPOT-KICK KING IVAN
      In-form Newcastle striker Callum Wilson deserves to go to QatarCredit: Getty
      CALLUM WILSON has been injured in the past but now he has hit great form and is flying, and now you’re arguing he shouldn’t miss out on Qatar.
      Right now, it seems it is either Wilson or Ivan Toney. In my opinion, I don’t think Ivan goes.
      That isn’t my personal choice as I think he should, but I could see a scenario where Gareth Southgate picks just one out-and-out striker to be a replacement for Harry Kane, and then pick a wide player to cover that area like Marcus Rashford.
      For me, Gareth should take both Wilson and Toney. They are two completely different sorts of players.
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      If we get to a situation like we did in the Euros final, you need a proven penalty taker. That’s what history has shown us, in high pressure moments to win games, so why wouldn’t you take him?
      Even if he doesn’t play but comes on purely to do the business from 12 yards, we need someone who regularly takes them, rather than a player who takes them well in training. More

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      Karren Brady: Prem is simply best league in the world… but spectacle will be ruined if we don’t curb ‘Big Six’ spending

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      ENGLAND stand at fourth, unsteadily I must add, among the favourites for the World Cup in Qatar.They have a chance of recording their second Hallelujah in 72 years but for all Gareth Southgate’s soft-spoken commitment, I won’t bet more than a few of the King’s newly-minted bob on it.
      Cautious Gareth Southgate is unlikely to see his England side enjoy another long tournament runCredit: PA
      It appears the team is on a gentle downward curve, perhaps because too many of the squad that did so well in the European Championship last year have slipped into exhausted form or spent too many hours in the treatment room.
      Or maybe because there is so little break between the Prem ending mid-season and the tournament starting that players who are carrying injuries cannot travel.
      Why, oh why did Fifa give Qatar the World Cup? Well… we know why, don’t we?
      But despite all the issues, it seems the team doesn’t sing any more.
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      Southgate is a cautious manager and he has more reasons to be so than at any time in his six-year tenure.
      Things don’t knit so tidily these days. For one reason or another, Harry Maguire, Kalvin Phillips, Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford are below their best, not surprising in the case of Phillips because injury has limited him since he joined Manchester City.
      His knotty aggression would be badly missed.
      Some little miracle will have to work for England even to reach the semi-finals, which the bookies suggest they should. Football coming home? More like partying in Rio or Paris, I’d guess.
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      So our fans will have to be satisfied with the Premier League, the lucky dogs. I say that because their likely disappointments of Doha will soon be no more than regrets at what (just) might have been, once the Prem returns.
      Yes, it’s true that I love the competition. Not all of it, what with VAR, with players littering the pitch because something hurts a little and with handball rules no one can quite understand.
      Even with those reasons — and fill in the space for half-dozen others — English football is unbeatable entertainment. It’s simply the best league in the world.
      Rich men and Hollywood stars have discovered this, so have oil sheikhs and Americans.
      Man City and the rest of the Prem’s Big Six will run away from the rest unless spending is curbedCredit: Reuters
      Oil-financed football is not completely my favourite for the future of the top-level game because vast money is beginning to warp it.
      Buy a club, grab the best manager going and suddenly your team — lucky old you — are among the leaders.
      It happened to Manchester City, who appointed the best boss on earth, Pep Guardiola, and garlanded him with almost anything he wanted.
      This is not jealousy in Claret and Blue writing, instead of grumbling, the tut-titters, I feel we ought to be cheering all of the Premier League teams along. The Government could learn from the way the Prem is conducted. It proves that a trickle-down policy can work.
      Whether the EFL like it or not, a heap of money is already being passed through English football and, guess what, it works.
      The Championship is a first-class competition with the seventh-highest attendance figure in the game.
      Buy a club, grab the best manager going and suddenly your team — lucky old you — are among the leaders.Karren Brady
      But while the EFL are fixated about the cliff edge from the 20th professional club in the country and the rest, there is already a bigger drop forming in the Prem, between sixth and the rest.
      The Uefa Champions League money, which pays out an average of £60million, looks set to grow by 50 per cent.
      This doesn’t even take into account the additional revenue these clubs earn from sponsorship, retail and so on. The sponsorship revenue of Liverpool is greater than the entire turnover of Aston Villa.
      The result is that it’s getting harder and harder to compete with the spending power of the top six and the gap is growing.
      It should come as no surprise that half of the top ten highest-paid players in the Premier League play for Man City.
      And the best-paid player in the Prem – Cristiano Ronaldo (£27m a year) – earned £9m more than the ENTIRE TURNOVER of Nottingham Forest last year (£18m).
      It’s bonkers when you look at it like that.
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      Our game thrives on competition, so maybe there should be some calls for addressing this problem – improved control of the amount Premier clubs spend on transfers, either levelling up or down.
      Otherwise the top six will never be challenged in the league, something I guess they wanted to achieve with their disastrous closed shop European Super League farce. More

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      Dave Kidd: Qatar just isn’t a ‘proper’ World Cup… they’re supposed to be about fun but this will be as dry as a desert

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      WHITE rabbits, white rabbits — pinch, punch, it’s the first day of World Cup month.So is everybody excited? No? Me neither.
      Nobody has caught World Cup fever yetCredit: AFP
      Fans are supposed to sink beers in sun-drenched fan parks during a World Cup, it won’t be the same this timeCredit: Getty
      Just 19 days to go until the greatest sporting show on Earth and the absence of World Cup fever is striking.
      If anybody is truly up for the tournament in Qatar, then I haven’t met them.
      Many of the reasons are well-rehearsed — the corruption of the voting process, the human-rights abuses of the Qatari regime, the deaths of thousands of migrant workers involved in the construction of  stadiums, the fact that LGBT people and unmarried couples are unwelcome.
      Then there’s the unsuitability of a tiny nation hosting such a huge event — the lack of affordable hotel rooms, as well as £15 pints — if you can find a beer at all.
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      But even if you’re fortunate enough not to be going to Qatar, there is a marked lack of enthusiasm.
      This weekend, I attended two Premier League matches and heard many supporters groaning about the imposition of a seven-week break in the middle of the domestic season.
      That was aside from the depressing sight of Bukayo Saka hobbling out of Arsenal’s victory over Nottingham Forest, giving England a World Cup scare — a reminder that the crammed schedule means many players finding relatively minor injuries robbing them of career-defining moments.
      Physically and mentally, players are struggling to be ready for what should be the pinnacle of the sport.
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      For supporters, too, summers are for major tournaments and winters are for the regular matchday rituals of watching your football club home and away.
      Nobody wants a World Cup shoehorned into November and December.
      And remember this, when Fifa’s sleaze-ridden bosses voted for Qatar it was sold under the lie of a summer tournament.
      I’ve been lucky enough to cover five World Cups — and have considered these tournaments not just as career highlights but also as life-affirming experiences.
      I’ve looked forward to every previous tournament but not this one. Nor is any other journalist I’ve spoken to.
      Of course, none of us want or expect you to play us sympathetic tunes on tiny violins.
      But several supporters I know who have regularly attended World Cups and European Championships — to  follow England and also to enjoy matches as neutrals — have never even considered going to Qatar.
      Too expensive, too joyless, just not a ‘proper’ World Cup at all.
      And those who would have been watching from the UK anyway, will not be able to enjoy all the usual communal beer-garden rituals, as the temperatures plunge. Aside from the magnitude of the actual sport, attending a World Cup usually feels like you’re part of a global melting pot, a carnival of humanity.
      Too expensive, too joyless, just not a ‘proper’ World Cup at all.Dave Kidd on Qatar 2022
      It’s bloody good fun. While I’ve covered some extraordinary matches at those five tournaments, football is only part of the experience.
      My first World Cup was spent in South Korea, based in the party district of Itaewon — the scene of the horrific tragedy which saw 154 people crushed to death this weekend.
      Back in 2002, that was a hedonistic place, supporters from dozens of nations thrown together for a month-long fiesta.
      Not least because the host nation was gripped by mania as their team enjoyed a shock run to the semi-finals.
      South Korea’s matches still rank as the noisiest I’ve ever attended.
      The street parties which followed, the most ecstatic.
      And in the southern port city of Busan, we drank until dawn and ate octopus curry in a fish market in an attempt to sober up. This was the life.
      Four years later, there were Munich’s beer gardens in a blazing-hot German summer, as England’s WAGs stole the show up in Baden-Baden.
      In 2010, the first African World Cup, visits to Soweto and the glories of Cape Town (where Fabio Capello’s England stank the place out).
      Then in 2014, it was kickabouts on Copacabana beach in Rio, as the home of the ‘Beautiful Game’ played host and England went out in five days.
      Just be glad that you’re not going.Dave Kidd
      And Russia. Despite its dreadful leader, what a wonderful nation.
      St Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities on Earth.
      Moscow, with its grand architecture, even the subway stations like art galleries. In unsung Nizhny Novgorod, there was craft ale and congas and karaoke.
      And nobody who went to Russia in 2018 will ever forget the Peruvians — determined to make the most of their nation having qualified for the first time since 1982.
      You simply could not move for Peruvians, in every street and every bar, in every host city — and long after Peru had been knocked out.
      Qatar will bring none of those joys. Of course, corruption and human-rights issues will rightly grab most of the negative headlines.
      But one of the worst things about this World Cup will be the lack of freedom to have authentic, impromptu, unrestrained fun.
      Just be glad that you’re not going.

      EMERY QUERY
      UNAI EMERY snubbed Newcastle last season only to accept the less-appetising job of managing Aston Villa.
      Some of that had to do with timing — Emery’s Villarreal were enjoying a run to the Champions League semi-finals last term.
      But still, for a  manager with such a fine European pedigree — winning four Europa Leagues at Sevilla and Villarreal — to accept a job where there is  little hope of even  qualifying for Europe seems strange.
      With Newcastle having turned England’s Big Six into a Big Seven, it will take a minor miracle for Emery’s Villa to even qualify for the Europa Conference League during the length of his three-and-a-half-year contract at Villa Park.

      KLOPP KOPS IT
      Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool reign is now officially on the slideCredit: Reuters
      WHEN Liverpool were beaten by struggling Leeds, it was their first Premier League defeat in front of an Anfield crowd since April 2017.
      Jurgen Klopp’s men have played in three European Cup finals in the 5½ years since.
      Given that home advantage ceased to exist during the pandemic behind-closed-doors era, when Liverpool lost six in a row at Anfield, that stat is a meaningful one.
      But having failed to win an away match in the league this season and with their Kop fortress having now been stormed, Klopp’s glorious Liverpool reign is officially on the slide.

      WILL A THRILL
      EDDIE HOWE’S salvage job on the Premier League careers of Joelinton and Miguel Almiron has rightly been lauded.
      But perhaps even more remarkable is Marco Silva’s ability to revive a 34-year-old Willian.
      The Brazilian looked like an overweight has-been at Arsenal a couple of years ago but is now dominating top-flight matches for Fulham.

      ALL GREEK TO ME
      I WAS fascinated to hear, when England faced Greece in the Rugby League World Cup, that the sport had, until recently, been banned by the Greek government with players having to stage clandestine matches at midnight under fear of arrest.
      Apparently this occurred because of political wranglings over the governing body.
      Which is a shame, because I’d hoped for a Greek president with an irrational hatred of Eddie Waring’s commentary who had outlawed rugby league on a bizarre personal whim.

      THERE was plenty of noise around Graham Potter replacing Gareth Southgate as England manager before he left Brighton for Chelsea.
      Southgate may not be fashionable right now.
      But, unlike Potter, he doesn’t think Three Lions ace Raheem Sterling is a wing-back.
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      THE week’s least surprising comment? A PR email which read: ‘Sam Allardyce: I’d back myself to win the World Cup with this England squad’.
      Because whatever Big Sam failed to achieve in management, it was never down to a lack of self-belief or an ability to blow his own trumpet. More