Armed robbery at Sterling home: Player returns to England – Football

DOHA- “Sterling has to return to England for serious family reasons. I’m not able to say whether he will be back in time for the quarter-final against France. There are times when family comes first.” Gareth Southgate, England coach, thus recounted the drama of the Chelsea striker, who, a few hours after the match against Senegal, learned the news of an armed robbery in his house in Surrey. At that moment the footballer’s family, his wife and three children were present in the villa. Sterling, particularly shocked because he had already suffered a robbery in 2020, therefore asked the Fa, the English federation, to be able to immediately take the plane to London.

Kane increasingly leader

Meanwhile, not only for his first goal scored in this World Cup but also and above all for his ability to cue his teammates, Harry Kaneb becomes more and more the leader of England. It will probably be his last World Cup and the captain doesn’t want to waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For this reason, the duel with France, which counts for the semifinal, he does not experience with anxiety, but as a passage towards what he would like to become the most important matches of his career: the semifinal, in fact, and the final on 18 December: “The “France is very strong and is world champion. But if you want to win the World Cup, and we want to win it without a doubt, you have to beat the best, therefore also France.” The Tottenham centre-forward has unblocked himself and doesn’t deny the importance of the goal: “I’m a striker, scoring goals is my job, so I can’t deny that I’m happy. But the most important thing is that the effectiveness of the our attack. It’s really difficult to stop us, the one against Senegal was not a simple challenge: in the first half hour we were put in difficulty”.

Cissé and the level of African football

The concept that sums up the victory is shared by coach Southgate: “It wasn’t that it was an easy game, we made it look like that. Our very young attack, apart from Kane, confirms that investing in young people pays off.” In truth, Senegal does too, whose coach Aliou Cissé, proudly in charge since 2015 (“and I’m still in my position, we’ll see if things change”), admits that African football has yet to climb the last step: ” We are African champions and it would be nice if what we succeed in the African Cup of Nations also succeeds in the World Cup.” That is, maintaining a high pace and concentration throughout the game: “The first 30 minutes were interesting, then they started winning almost all the duels. We have to admit that they were better. On the other hand, when you compare yourself with the big five in the Fifa ranking, the physical and technical level goes up. I’m proud of my boys, the spirit was the right one. We want to reach the level of the big five, next time. Obviously we missed Mané, but the way we played as a team, in this World Cup, I’m satisfied. African football is growing, but it’s a gradual process.”