Gary Neville has offered his reaction to England’s World Cup group stage draw and spotted a “complication” for Gareth Southgate’s side.
The Three Lions were handed a seemingly plum set of fixtures in Group B, where they were drawn with Iran, United States, and the winner of one of the final play-off fixtures - meaning that either Scotland, Wales or Ukraine will join Southgate's men in the group stage. Former England striker Alan Shearer believes that Gareth Southgate will be more than happy with the outcome of Friday’s draw.
England head to Qatar fresh from coming agonisingly close to claiming glory at Euro 2020, where they were pipped to the crown by Italy on penalties at Wembley. And Southgate's men will be bidding to better their most recent World Cup exploits, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Croatia in 2018.
England will kick off their campaign with a clash against Iran on November 21 before locking horns with USA on November 25 in a re-run from their group clash in the 2010 World Cup. The final spot in the group - which will be filled by Scotland, Wales or Ukraine - will be decided in the summer.
Former Three Lions international right-back Neville has added that the possibility of playing either Wales or Scotland brings an added level of pressure for Southgate’s side, and he believes they were not a good draw from pot four for the group.
Neville explained on Sky Sports: “We have seen those games in recent tournaments against both Scotland and Wales – each of those were very difficult games in each of the Euros. Scotland were a big challenge in the summer and Wales went on to go further than us in 2016.
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“We know how much it means to the Scottish, the Welsh or the Irish to play against England and that is not us being arrogant, but it is a huge fixture – it is for England as well, but it does not seem to carry that same level of dislike.
“I am looking forward to the group but they are all difficult games from an emotional perspective more than a football perspective and that does carry some potential problems from England. They would have wanted to avoid playing a home nation because it is a complication you do not need.
“It has always been the same – we had it in Euro 1996, when Scotland should have beaten us before Gazza’s fantastic goal. The emotion and the passion that those nations and their fans bring will make it difficult as they travel particularly well and they will be brilliant games for us to watch, or even if it is Ukraine.”
