Roy Keane hails England’s ‘swagger’ ahead of World Cup showdown with France

Roy Keane has called for England to ‘go for it’ when they take on defending champions France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Saturday.

England swept aside Senegal 3-0 in their last-16 encounter on Sunday, while France eased past Poland 3-1 earlier in the day as the two European giants booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Kylian Mbappe scored twice for France to take his tournament tally to five, and there has been talk of England potentially having to come up with a special plan to keep the forward quiet. 

England cruised to a comfortable win against Senegal to move into the last eight in Qatar

Roy Kane now wants England to ‘go for it’ when they play France in the quarter-finals

Keane doesn’t believe the Three Lions should be worrying too much about opposition players, though, and feels they should look to take the game to Didier Deschamps’s team.

‘At this stage of the competition you are going to be coming up against teams, they’ll always have one or two special players. But that’s part of the challenge,’ Keane told ITV ahead of Brazil’s clash with South Korea on Monday night.

‘England have a bit of a swagger themselves. Of course, you have to look at the opposition and their strengths, but England should be brave and strong, and really go for it.’

England are the top scorers in Qatar, having found the net 12 times in their four matches to date.

However, their football has not exactly been free-flowing throughout the tournament, particularly during their dire goalless draw with USA in the group stage.

Graeme Souness believes England are a team that no one wants to face at the moment

Gareth Southgate’s men have kept three clean sheets in a row, though, and Graeme Souness believes their style of play makes England a team that nobody will enjoy playing.  

‘France will be concerned about playing against England. England are the team that no one wants to play,’ Souness claimed.

‘You can’t sit back and say “I’m really enjoying that football”, like you would with Spain, and possibly tonight, but I’ll bet you none of the big teams want to play against England because they see how pragmatic they are, they give very few chances away.’