World Cup 2018: 4 Reasons Why England Could Go All The Way

#2 There’s less pressure – and fewer past scars

England's younger players like Jesse Lingard and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are not scarred by the past

Admittedly, a great deal of the players likely to start in England’s first World Cup game against Tunisia were involved in the abject loss to Iceland at Euro 2016, but outside of that, the Three Lions finally have a group of players who aren’t carrying around the scars of past failures at major tournaments.

Only five players from the disastrous 2014 World Cup campaign (Gary Cahill, Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling) remain in the squad, and this year’s squad features no less than eight players who have never featured in a tournament before.

Rather than carrying the burden of the past, this England side finally appear to be capable of playing with some freedom, with the youthful exuberance of the likes of Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford a welcome change to the usual dour mood going into a tournament.

And the fans seem to be following the same path, too – most England fans are simply hoping for the team to play some attractive football and maybe make the quarter-finals at best. With far less pressure on their shoulders – no more “England expects” – could this finally be the tournament that sees the Three Lions deliver on the big stage? You never know.