Mid-afternoon in Repino, the drizzle setting in outside, and Kieran Trippier is busy digesting a list of elite names. It is topped by Neymar, out on his own with 16 chances created for his Brazil teammates at the World Cup, with Kevin De Bruyne, such a force of nature in the Premier League, three back in second place.
Yet breathing down the Belgian’s neck, one further chance behind, is England’s find of the tournament. “Not bad for a Bury lad,” he says, stifling a chuckle, before seeking to credit others for his impact. It must be down to the formation, or to his teammates. Trippier is too modest to take credit for his own excellence.
Only four months ago, the 27-year-old was considered by most as a mere back-up. A player who had not always been a regular at Tottenham, even once Kyle Walker had departed for Manchester City last summer, was pencilled in for understudy status at best. Now, four games into a finals campaign that has rekindled the country’s faith in the national team, and with Walker assimilated into the back three, he is integral to the side who will confront Sweden in their quarter-final on Saturday.
The 12 chances he has generated for the collective have had people comparing that waspish delivery with his right foot, whether on the charge or from set pieces, to David Beckham in his pomp. There is another table in the Opta stat-pack that suggests no one can match his 11 corners which have found a teammate in Russia. This team may lack a conventional playmaker but not a supply line to the forwards.
He puts the accuracy down to studying slow-motion footage of players such as Beckham and Andrea Pirlo, soaking up every aspect of the technique from dead balls and on the run, and is thankful for the hours spent with his former coach in the Manchester City youth team, Steve Eyre, at their Platt Lane training centre, perfecting the art of his delivery.
Eyre, now Joey Barton’s first-team coach at Fleetwood Town, used to marvel at the youngster’s ability to strike an unsuspecting groundsman, leaving “a Mitre imprint on the back of his head”, with a pinpoint 50-yard pass. Trippier would be juggling the next ball by the time his victim span round to berate the assailant, with the coach playing dumb. A delegation of groundstaff eventually demanded Eyre make a formal effort to unearth the culprit. The pair still speak regularly, with words of advice issued from the Fylde coast to the Gulf of Finland.
There is praise, too, for his older brother, Kelvin Lomax, whose nomadic career took him from Oldham Athletic through the lower divisions and non-league. “He’s the one I looked up to back home, watching his matches every week or his training sessions at Oldham, while kicking a ball up against the wall,” says the England international.
“He was a professional, a full-back, and the one I wanted to follow into the game. He helped me a hell of a lot.” Lomax’s aspirations were wrecked by a shattered tibia and fibula, but, at 31, he is part of the family group pursuing Trippier around Russia, “supporting me no matter where I am”.
There have been times over the years when Trippier has needed to lean on that faith.
A player who found his path into the City team blocked by players such as Pablo Zabaleta and Micah Richards has taken a circuitous route to a World Cup, like many of his England teammates. “All of us have our own journeys. I was let go at City, but I always believed I could play at the top level. It has taken longer than expected and I have had to be patient and wait for my opportunity. At Tottenham it took two years for me to break into the team, but I knew the opportunity would come.
“Now it has, I thank the manager, Mauricio Pochettino, for letting me play Champions League football. But I had always wanted to be in this position where I play for my country in a World Cup.”
His parents, Eleanor and Chris, will be in Samara on Saturday while the colossal flag of St George flutters in their absence from a pole planted in the front garden of the family home in Bury. “We’ll have people watching out for the house and, maybe, we’ll keep the telly on for people to watch. They couldn’t get out for the Colombia game but they were all in the garden watching it with the neighbours watching over the hedges and people walking past, too. That’s the kind of estate we’re on.
“I’ve seen the videos of them going crazy when [Eric] Dier scored the penalty. We’ve all seen the clips on social media, of people celebrating and throwing pints everywhere in the pubs when Harry Kane scored against Tunisia. It means a lot to see how happy they are. I read that 24 million watched the other night. As a fan myself, it’s crazy how much it means to everyone back home. The joy … all the boys sense it.”
Not that Sweden, a side whom England have beaten only twice in 15 meetings, will be a pushover on the banks of the Volga. Their scout Tom Prahl has publicly noted a sluggishness in the way England move the ball, “not like teams from southern Europe”, and questioned how Gareth Southgate’s side will react to being pressed higher up the pitch and more aggressively. “But our aim is to move the ball quickly and manage the game well, trying to find those little pockets of space for Raheem [Sterling] or whoever is playing, by making the pitch as wide as possible,” Trippier adds. “That’s how we’ll hurt teams. We’ve got the players here to do that. We’ve go the quality.”
As the list which had rendered him sheepish demonstrates, in the Spurs player’s delivery, England pose a proper threat.
