Five fun facts about England's World Cup campaign
- Published
Expectation v Reality: Harry Kane is gunning for the Golden Boot for the most goals scored in the tournament. In 2014 it was won by James Rodriguez of Colombia. Only one England striker has ever won it - Match of the Day host Gary Lineker in 1986. Kane's biggest problem? Yep, Cristiano Ronaldo - he scored a hat-trick in his FIRST GAME.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is the youngest player in the England squad and has only appeared once for England in a friendly against Costa Rica. If he gets on the pitch, this will be his first ever competitive match for England's senior squad! No pressure there then!
England are building team spirit by playing other sports together, such as basketball, darts and what looks like tig! Manager Gareth Southgate said "If the players are going to perform well, then they need to be relaxed. In our hotel, there are 23 mates having fun - playing basketball in their spare time. Our preparation is good and our training is good." Let's hope they don't pick up the ball by accident!
Thank goodness there are no penalties in the group stages, but every England fan will be wondering about what will happen later on in the tournament. Penalties have always been a worry for England - the men's side have been knocked out of the World Cups in 1990, 1998 and 2006 on penalties and the European Championships in 1996, 2004 and 2012. England Manager Gareth Southgate (bottom left) famously missed a penalty in the semi-final of the Euros in 1996! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but have they been practising?
If you need a World Cup song to get you in the mood for the matches - how about a bit of CBeebies show Hey Duggee?! Drive your parents mad by shouting the "kicky-kick" chorus as loud as you can. Don't tell them it was us that told you to do it, of course.... 😂
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