Thank you Lee Carsley for a first-rate job as England’s interim manager.
His six-match stint in charge of the Three Lions has been a colossal success with five victories seeing them return to the Nations League top bracket.
Even the solitary defeat at home to Greece proved to be a valuable lesson. His team selection delighted fans who called for Gareth Southgate to shoehorn the incredible wealth of talent into his starting XI during this summer’s European Championship in Germany and the disjointed performance, which lacked any semblance of balance, merely provedtough decisions have to be made and feathers ruffled to be successful on the international stage.
Carsley was rocked by multiple withdrawals from his squad for this month’s Nations League matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland and responded by relying on players who won the Euro Under-21 tournament last year.
It was the first time they lifted that trophy since 1984 and Carsley will be back with the rising stars as they head into next summer’s campaign in Slovakia.
The Young Lions will know there can be a path to senior team success if they flourish after Carsley gave debuts to eight players in his senior spell and even dropped England captain Harry Kane for last week’s match in Athens.
The Bayern Munich striker, who has received unfair stick for some of his recent contributions, responded by converting a penalty which extended his lead as England’s leading scorer with a stunning 69 goals in 103 appearances.
With four players then proudly celebrating their first goals for their country there were plenty of storylines to enjoy after the victory.
It may be overlooked that it was Kane’s sublime peach of a pass to Jude Bellingham which won the spot-kick and led to Liam Scales being sent off for a second yellow card.
Kane has a good relationship with Thomas Tuchel from their time in Munich and there’s very little doubt he will spearhead the Three Lions attack in the 2026 World Cup finals.
The draw for the qualifiers isn’t until December 13 but it would be a major shock if they failed to progress by winning their group.
Incoming boss Tuchel’s mission is to win the World Cup and Carsley has left him with the strongest of squads and an abundance of momentum and positivity.
England are 7/1 joint favourites with France and Brazil to lift the trophy in New Jersey with William Hill and numerous others, and that price will only shrink before the tournament kicks off.
• Jannik Sinner has been installed by Betway as the 5/2 joint favourite, along with Carlos Alcaraz, to successfully defend his Australian Open title after winning his first ATP Finals crown on Sunday.
• Corbetts Cross, who will have come on from the run when second in his first outing of the season at Wexford at the end of last month, is 9/2 with bet365 for Saturday’s Betfair Chase at Haydock.
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