World Cup Insider: Jesse Lingard is the strike KING
Lingard life of the party
JOURNALISTS got a glimpse at the Gazza-style energy levels of Jesse Lingard today when he spotted the ten-pin bowling lanes at the England media centre.
At the 1990 World Cup senior players had to take it in turns to do various activities with Paul Gascoigne to keep him out of trouble at the team base and Lingard clearly has the same boundless enthusiasm.
He asked to have “a couple of goes” but it turned into a mini-tournament when Trent Alexander-Arnold and, finally, Kieran Trippier saw what was going on.
The Manchester United player, though, was undoubtedly the leading light, invariably hitting the kingpin and racking up a series of spares and strikes in front of the impressed reporters.
“I’m on fire!” he rejoiced after picking off yet another spare, but as FA staff waited to escort him back to the player’s hotel, he had “one last go” on at least three occasions.
The Gazza spirit is strong in this camp!
World Cup 2018: Jesse Lingard is channeling the spirit of Gazza (Image: GETTY/REUTERS)
World Cup 2018: Jesse Lingard kept on going at the bowling alley (Image: GETTY)
Trent's home call
EVEN when you have made your international debut for your country and are now helping them prepare for the World Cup, you are still not too old to be told off by your mum.
In fairness, the youngest member of the squad Trent Alexander-Arnold is still a teenager, but he is refreshingly honest about how he has still managed to find time while in Repino to check in with mum Dianne, 51 - who he still lives with back in England.
“She checks up every day to make sure I'm wearing sun cream,” he revealed. “She’s so into the details of everything. The whole family is like that - we keep well in touch and call a couple of times a day.”
It was wise advice yesterday when the sun was blazing down for the first time since England landed in Russia – although the temperature at training was still only in the high teens.
In Volgograd at this time of the year the mercury can reach into the 30s – exactly the sort of climate Monday’s opponents Tunisia are used to.
World Cup 2018: Gary Cahill tries his hand at darts (Image: GETTY)
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All quiet in Repino
AN emphatic 5-0 win for the hosts caused barely a stir in the north-west corner of Russia with the residents of Repino clearly keeping a lid on any celebrations.
I have not spotted a single Russian flag flying from a window or a vehicle or even in one of a number of bars which seem strangely disinterested by an event that evidently those in Moscow are already mad about.
Following the match on local television was a largely incomprehensible affair, although amid the commentary for the opening goal the excited broadcaster suddenly broke into unmistakeable English to declare, “Here we go!” And there indeed Russia went.