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Against the background of this unique and sometimes quite surreal World Cup in the Gulf, England suddenly finds itself on familiar territory.
“Football doesn’t come home with this group of players,” said Graeme Souness on TV the night England drew 0-0 against a more dangerous-looking Scotland in the second leg of last year’s European Championship.
Souness was right, but just. England improved, reached the final and only lost on penalties.
Harry Kane has yet to score in the World Cup, but must be able to play himself into form
Now, nearly 18 months later, England has re-examined itself. Friday’s goalless draw against the USA at Al Bayt Stadium was reminiscent of that night at Wembley.
Once again, Gareth Southgate’s team was short on ideas. His selections and substitutions are being scrutinized again. This time the call is for Phil Foden while last year it was Jack Grealish.
Captain Harry Kane remains aimless and, as with the European Championships, both his struggles for fitness and style of play are now the subject of endless analysis.
In the midst of all this, England are at the top of Group B and in control of their own destiny. A win over Wales on Tuesday night saw the Southgate side progress to the last 16 in first place.
The England coach knows how this all works. There are no shades of gray when it comes to the national team. However, some of his younger players can wake up to the realities of playing for their country. They were booed on Friday night after beating Iran 6-2 four days earlier. That will have taken some effort.
If Kane is fit he should start against Wales as he is key to England’s chances of progress
England should beat Wales. Robert Page’s team has been one of the worst performing sides in the World Cup so far.
The familiarity of the two teams can level the playing field a bit, but only up to a point.
There have already been suggestions to give Kane a rest. He is still battling his ankle injury and was not at his best last Friday.
Once again there have been calls to play further down the field and resist the temptation to go deep in search of the ball.
Southgate should ignore all this. Kane remains fundamental to England’s chances of success in Qatar and should play himself into form.
He only scored four minutes into England’s last-16 match against Germany in the European Championship, but then added two more against Ukraine in the quarter-final, scoring the winner against Denmark to take his country to the final.
Despite not finding the back of the net to date, Kane remains an integral part of how England play
This is what many of the best strikers do: they score in bursts and they have to be on the pitch to do it. Unless Kane feels he is fundamentally unable to play at full throttle due to the pain pelting out of his foot during the game against Iran, he should get a shirt tomorrow night and get to go out and do what he does best.
Some players need micromanagement in terms of their role on a team. Kane is not one of them. He is the captain of his country and will find his own way through a spell that saw him scoreless for England for a year.
Elsewhere in his team, Southgate is expected to freshen things up a bit. Even though it was a 10pm kick-off at Al Bayt, some England players spoke of the intensity of the heat. Some of them certainly looked leggy.
Whether Foden is the answer is less clear. The Manchester City player is a fantastically gifted footballer, but for whom the England shirt sometimes looks heavy. So far in his 19 games in England he has not shown the form he does for his club.
Others – like Harry Maguire – manage to leave the uncertain club form behind and play well for England. For Foden, the opposite seems to be true and if Southgate is to find a spot for him, he will have to remove one of Raheem Sterling or Bukayo Saka from his squad. Suddenly the decision looks and feels more complicated.
England fans have been clamoring to see more of Phil Foden on the pitch during the World Cup
This is a tight-knit England side, a group of players who have already traveled a long way based on their sense of belonging. This is why some Southgate players have taken issue with the media for using photos of their wives and girlfriends in Saturday morning papers.
It all feels a bit trivial because the pictures were innocent enough. But life at a World Cup training camp can feel quite surreal at the best of times. Feelings can easily bruise and context can be lost.
For this English team, comfort can be taken from a look at the pool table. England are at the top and undefeated.
It should still look the same on Wednesday morning and from then on this last chance at World Cup glory can really begin.
Gareth Southgate is expected to refresh his England XI after the 0-0 draw against USA