With qualification for Euro 2020 so close, the
England manager could pick midfielder to provide ingenuity in PragueWin again. Win better. For England’s footballers, much like England’s travelling fans, a long weekend in Prague presents an opportunity for cork-popping celebration but also for a degree of morning‑after introspection.
Victory against the Czech Republic should confirm England’s qualification for the Euro jamboree next year. There is still an element of tension here. The trip to the Sinobo Stadium, a nondescript concrete oval to the south-east of Prague, has always looked the most likely bump on the road to
London, Baku, Budapest and the rest.