Kyle Walker believes it will take “a miracle” for England to win the World Cup and has questioned whether the side has the experience necessary to succeed in the knockout stages of the tournament.
The Manchester City defender, who has 34 England caps, called for both players and fans to be realistic about the side’s chances in Russia, despite a qualifying campaign in which the team were unbeaten.
“I hope we can go as far as we can go, but we need to be realistic,” the full-back told TalkSport. “To win the World Cup is going to be a miracle, but we have got the players to do it. A lot of us play in probably the best league in the world.
“We’ve got the players to do it, but have we got the experience going further along in competitions? No we haven’t. Not in recent years.
“We need to be realistic. There are a lot of good teams out there and our record in tournaments has not been fantastic.”
England had a shambolic Euro 2016 and were beaten by Iceland in the last 16 in France, and Walker says winning a match at that stage of the tournament should be the focus.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations inside the camp - England haven’t won a knockout game for God knows how many years, so for us to go there and win a knockout game, that would be a step in the right direction.”
