sport news Former Premier League star Ashley Westwood reveals why England can win the ... trends now
Ashley Westwood played for big-name clubs including Sheffield Wednesday during his 403-game career in the top flight of English football before coaching sides in India and Malaysia - so it's safe to say he knows his football back to front.
Here he tells Daily Mail Australia why his country is primed for its best run at the World Cup title for decades, the shortcoming that could see the Three Lions fail to hoist the trophy for the first time since 1966 - and what the Socceroos have to do to go one better than their stunning run to the Round of 16 in Qatar.
Westwood (pictured starring in one of his 77 games for Sheffield Wednesday) is a firm believer in England's ability to win a second World Cup
WHY THE THREE LIONS CAN ROAR IN QATAR
It's definitely the strongest chance we've had for a couple of generations. Look at the players: Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford - every single one of them would get a start in most teams because they're exciting players who can be matchwinners on their own. They can score a goal out of nothing from their own work, they don't have to be on the end of a perfect team goal.
Gareth Southgate will get heavily criticised if he doesn't get to the latter stages with those stars. Yes, they had a few sticky results before the World Cup and they didn't do enough to take the game away from Italy in the Euro 2020 final. That's always been the thing with England; they have plenty of attacking stars but can play too conservatively.
Jude Bellingham's immense quality is making a huge difference for the Three Lions in Doha, enabling them to be freer with their attacking play (Bellingham pictured against Senegal)
But in this World Cup the difference is Jude Bellingham. He's an attacking midfielder, so we don't have the two holding midfielders as we did in the past with Declan Rice and your Jordan Hendersons. So they've been freer with their attacking play, as you saw against Iran and Senegal. The criticism is they never truly get the shackles off and play to win, they play not to lose, and that's always been the frustrating thing from an England perspective. But in a tournament like the World Cup you can't be gung-ho in every game.
It's a double-edged sword - do you entertain and try to win 4-2, or do you do enough to stay in the match, stay in the tournament? Teams can lose and still win the WC. They always say normally to win a Word Cup you have to win a penalty shootout, which the flip of a coin. The English fan likes to be entertained, but at the end of the day you can't argue with Southgate's record, he's the most successful England manager in 50 years.
THE BIG WORLD CUP CHANGE SPURRING ENGLAND ON
England are the side that's best placed to take advantage of the big jump in the amount of extra time at the World Cup, and the switch from four substitutes to five.
They've brought the most valuable squad to Doha. If you look at the players who haven't always got a look-in - Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, James Maddison - they're all $170million
