Alan Shearer: ‘This World Cup is a different beast – but here is how England can win it’

‘What we had to try and overcome in 1998 was hard enough – but this World Cup looks like a different beast altogether.’

As one of only 13 men to have captained England at a World Cup, Alan Shearer’s assessment comes with a great deal of authority.

30 years ago in France, the prolific Newcastle striker skippered England out of the group stages before an all-too-familiar penalty shootout defeat against Argentina in the round of 16.

But fast forward to the here and now, and Shearer believes that the challenge awaiting Harry Kane and his side is that little bit harder still.

All the World Cup action

Get everything you need to know about the World Cup – England updates, the games to watch and stories you missed – in five minutes, at 1pm, every day. Sign up here.

England landed in Miami nine days ago to begin their preparation, and all being well, Thomas Tuchel’s side will hope to still be in North America 48 days later for the tournament’s final in New Jersey.

But that seven-week odyssey – sprawled across three countries for the first time in the tournament’s history – will push England to the limits, Shearer believes.

‘It was hard enough before to navigate and manage it, but this will be the longest one yet, Shearer told Metro ahead of the tournament.

‘It’s a privilege; I mean, after all, you’re giving up six weeks of your life to try and do something life-changing, but it’s not easy.

‘It’s also different this one because of the travel; you’re now travelling to different time zones, different countries, which clearly wasn’t the case in my time, and that’s why it’s going to be very different in this World Cup. 

‘You’re going to be travelling maybe four or five hours on a flight, which is unheard of in World Cups, so from that point of view it’s going to be very different as well.’

Added to the demands of constant travel is the high likelihood of searing summer heat and tropical thunderstorms throughout the tournament.

Tuchel has not shied away from his desire to play high-octane football, but Shearer urged the German to ensure he is practical with those ambitions, particularly given many of his squad have come from gruelling campaigns at club level.

‘That heat could be a real difference-maker if he doesn’t manage it right,’ Shearer, a Betfair ambassador, said.

‘You’ve got the intensity that a lot of the players have had in the Premier League, the number of games, how quick it is, how physical it is, how demanding it is.

‘He also has to deal with the breaks in games, because that’s going to be something we’re going to have to manage after what we saw in the Club World Cup.

‘How do you then handle having to sit out, sit and wait in a dressing room or whatever for an hour or two and then go again? That’s just two of the things that the manager has to somehow get around, and that’s why it’s been really, really tough to win it.’

So if these are the problems, what are the possible solutions?

Shearer is clear in his view that Tuchel must lean on the entirety of his squad, perhaps more than any predecessor in World Cups gone by, if England are to navigate their way into the latter stages of this tournament.

‘There’s no doubt, that’s going to be a pivotal part of it,’ he added.

‘I think you’ll probably see more of the squad being used on a more regular basis in this competition than perhaps in any other.’

England’s first warm-up match against New Zealand demonstrated just that, with Tuchel deploying two separate XIs for each half of their 1-0 win inFlorida.

The Three Lions are expected to rotate similarly for their final warm-up against Costa Rica, but Shearer insisted England must avoid the familar trap of letting pre-tournament optimism be dampened by poor performances in these encounters.

‘I wouldn’t take anything from those two friendlies,’ he said bluntly. ‘As a player, you get the feeling it just starts when the World Cup kicks off for your first game.

‘I think I’m an example of that in terms of leading up to Euro 96 when I hadn’t scored in two years. Fortunately, I got picked for the first game and then scored in the first game and finished as top scorer.’

Unlike recent campaigns, England may well have to do it the hard way, with tricky match-ups against Mexico and Brazil potentialy awaiting them as early as the last-16 and quarter-finals.

And so what would Shearer deliver as his final piece of advice to Tuchel and his squad? Don’t listen to him, or anyone else for that matter.

‘The noise is very different to 1996 and 1998, where we just had to deal with a few newspapers,’ he said.

‘Now you’ve got everything; there’s more TV channels than ever, there are more mobile phones, there are more social media, there’s more noise than there’s ever been.

‘It might seem impossible for the players nowadays to switch off from that, but I’m sure Tuchel will do his best job at trying to keep them in their own bubble. Let’s hope they can shut a fair few people up along the way.’

Alan Shearer was talking at the launch of Betfair’s World Cup campaign. Everyone’s got an opinion, back yours at Betfair…

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.