LONDON \u2013 England midfielder Declan Rice expects to be \u201chated one minute and loved the next\u201d when the Three Lions aim to win the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.<\/p>\n
Rice will be a key figure for Thomas Tuchel\u2019s side when the World Cup kicks off in June, but the Arsenal star knows the fickle nature of football fans could lead to an emotional rollercoaster ride.<\/p>\n
Although England\u2019s record improved under Tuchel\u2019s predecessor Gareth Southgate, their only major tournament triumph remains the 1966 World Cup on home soil.<\/p>\n
Rice and company are saddled with the burden of finally bringing home a major trophy, with their World Cup campaign starting against Croatia in Arlington, Texas on June 17.<\/p>\n
Rice, capped 72 times by England, said: \u201cThe biggest challenge is dealing with everything that comes with being an England player.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be the most-watched football event of the last four years. One minute you\u2019re going to be hated, one minute you\u2019re going to be loved.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always changes in football. You\u2019ve just got to take it with a pinch of salt.\u201d<\/p>\n
England\u2019s \u2018golden generation\u2019, including Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand, stumbled in major tournaments despite their success at club level.<\/p>\n
Several of those players subsequently admitted they struggled to put their club rivalries to one side while on England duty.<\/p>\n
But Rice, speaking to British Vogue, is confident England\u2019s current generation are far more harmonious.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s through social media or in real life, you can see that there\u2019s a real connection between us,\u201d he said. \u201cYou obviously hear about the older generation talking about how they didn\u2019t get on and how they couldn\u2019t connect and play together. But I think with us… over the last few years with England, we\u2019ve done so well, because we\u2019re close on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously all play against each other, but football\u2019s not like that any more. A lot of people have best friends from opposite teams, spend a lot of time with players from opposite teams. With England, we all get on. We always look forward to seeing each other. It\u2019s a nice getaway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rice could go to the World Cup on the back of Arsenal\u2019s greatest-ever season.<\/p>\n
The Gunners will clinch their first Premier League title since 2004 if they win their last two games against Burnley and Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta\u2019s side also face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final as they aim to win Europe\u2019s elite club competition for the first time. AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2013 England midfielder Declan Rice expects to be \u201chated one minute and loved the next\u201d when the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-444239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}