DOHA, Qatar (AP) — For a nation often flattered by cheating at major soccer tournaments, a card game that relies on the art of cheating is strengthening the bond between England players ahead of their match against Senegal in the World Cup. round of 16
Werewolf, an RPG and deduction game, has become a popular pastime for the squad between games.
“It’s about being the best liar,” midfielder Declan Rice said. “The villagers have to kill the wolves and the wolves have to lie and tell everyone why they are not wolves. There is a lot of teamwork, in a group”.
Whatever England are doing at their base in Qatar, so far it’s working.
They play Senegal on Sunday after topping Group B and tying Spain for the tournament’s top scorer so far with nine goals.
No other team had more than the seven points England recorded en route to the knockout round and is just one of three to remain unbeaten.
However, the message from manager Gareth Southgate and captain Harry Kane this week has been about maintaining focus and standards.
Belgium and Germany were high-profile exits from the group stage, while defending champions France, along with Argentina, Spain, Brazil and Portugal have been on the wrong end of upsets.
And to think that England’s 0-0 draw with the United States was considered shocking enough to draw loud boos from Three Lions fans after that game last week.
“I think it’s always difficult when you see great teams or great players on teams that don’t have the success you want or don’t live up to the expectations of a nation or where they see themselves,” defenseman John Stones said. “We never want to fall into that category. I think it’s a great motivation for us as a reminder: you never want to take anything for granted or who you’re playing against.
England may be considered a major footballing nation, but their only tournament success came when they hosted and won the World Cup in 1966.
The years since then have been marked by disappointment and poor performance.
There has been a rebound with Southgate, who led the team to the World Cup semifinals in Russia in 2018 and last year’s European Championship final, which they lost on penalties to Italy.
The bond he has developed between the players is seen as a key factor in England’s improvement.
Southgate is also meticulous with his planning, from the psychological help to deal with the pressure of taking penalties down to the smallest details.
At a team meeting this week, players were reminded to leave their socks in the “correct way” for props to pick up after practice.
“We fight over stuff like that because we’ve created those standards,” Stones said. “If you start to be careless with the small things, the bigger things start to be careless very easily. Any one or two percent of the things that we can do to improve…obviously they are small things, but they matter to us.”
So there should be no danger of England taking Senegal lightly.
The winner of the African Cup of Nations they finished second in Group A behind the Netherlands. That was despite suffering the pre-tournament disappointment of star striker Sadio Mane being ruled out.
“It’s knockout games now: if you win, you stay here; if you lose, you go home,” Senegal coach Aliou Cissé said. “You don’t have to think too much, all the teams are at the same level.
“Our squad has experience today, they have been through a lot together and they know how to prepare for these types of matches now, in competitions like this one,” he added.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
