Michael Raynes is looking forward to an eventful World Cup and the Crewe defender has a good feeling that Gareth Southgate’s England could just surprise a few over in Russia. The Crewe centre-half is a keen watcher of football and he cannot wait to see the best players in the world perform on such a stage over the next month.

Raynes told crewealex.net: “The World Cup is always exciting and I will be watching the games as much as I can.

“You have to be optimistic. I am an optimistic kind of guy, so England have a chance. They have some really good players and it is difficult to predict the team which is a good thing. Previously you probably knew the eleven starters and then the rest were just there if there was an injury or suspension.

“There is real competition for places now and no-one knows if they are nailed on to play. That is good. I like Rashford, he is a special talent and if he was Brazilian or from another country we would all be raving about him and saying how he is the next best thing. He is English so we don’t kind to not do that as much.

He added: “Sterling is exciting and is always a threat. I wouldn’t like to be playing against him, Rashford or Kane that is for sure, so we have got to be optimistic. I hope it’s a good World Cup.”