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Oh, that hubris!
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England are a team of talented, charming young men who are easy to like. However, it’s the noise around them that invariably triggers schadenfreude. On this occasion, ahead of their Round-of-16 match against Senegal, Gary Lineker is the guilty party.
On Friday, he was quoted as saying that Gareth Southgate should ‘rest’ right-back Kyle Walker against Senegal for Sunday’s World Cup Round-of-16 match so that he is fresh to take on Kylian Mbappe and France in the quarterfinal.
“Kyle Walker should not be in England’s team to play Senegal, and I will tell you exactly why. We, England, cannot afford for Walker to get injured in that match. Because he is just about the only full-back on the planet who can compete with Kylian Mbappe,” Lineker told the BBC.
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“Mbappe is the French team. Why would you take the risk of him (Walker) getting injured, particularly in that position? I don’t want to sound arrogant and that we are taking Senegal for granted, but why risk Walker?”
The moment Lineker added a ‘but’ in that sentence, everything else he added lost relevance. He would even quote tweet the BBC article on his views with: “No Brainer”.
Lineker, of course, isn’t the only one. Gary Neville told Sky Sports: “It looks like a collision course waiting to happen, doesn’t it? Mbappe versus Walker.” His former Manchester United and England defensive partner Rio Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel: “For me, Kyle Walker is the only defender on the planet right now that will stand there and go to Mbappe: ‘Right, 1-v-1, let’s have a race’.” (READ MORE)
