Ian Wright: Raheem Sterling — you’re doing great for England at the World Cup and don’t worry about not scoring
I’VE GOT one message for Raheem Sterling.
You're doing great, so stop worrying about scoring and just play your game.
If we win the World Cup — and I believe there’s every chance we can do that now — it won’t matter at all whether Sterling has scored.
He had an excellent game against Sweden, running into space and stretching the defence.
But he has become anxious about getting on the scoresheet.
There was a moment towards the end of the first half when he went for goal even though there was a simple pass on to Harry Kane.
Had he done the easy thing and laid it on for his captain, we would probably have gone into half-time two-up.
The match would then have opened up as Sweden would have had to come out and attack for the whole of the second half.
Raheem would have found more openings and might well have got himself a tap-in for a third goal.
I’m a huge Marcus Rashford fan and he is a more than capable deputy for Sterling. But Raheem is doing really good things and just needs to relax.
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Had he scored, everyone would have said that he played the perfect game.
As it was, he got 99 per cent of it right. If he carries on running at teams and tying defenders up in knots, we will reap the benefits.
Against a better team like Croatia, it is important Raheem makes the right decisions.
Because if we don’t do that, they will definitely punish us.
Boss Gareth Southgate has stuck with him as he knows just what Sterling brings to the team — and how important he is to making the rest of the system work.
Croatia will be scared of the Manchester City star’s pace, it’s what worries defences most.
Yes, we should respect the opposition but we should not be petrified of them. If we’d been playing France, I would have been a lot more concerned.
I don’t feel like Croatia have pulled up many trees, apart from that thumping of a poor Argentina side.
But they do have two excellent midfielders in Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, who are better than what we have in midfield.
We don’t have creators like those two.
Becks: Back off 'heem
DAVID BECKHAM has lashed out at critics of Raheem Sterling, calling them simply “wrong”.
The Manchester City forward was castigated by some for missing chances in the defeat of Sweden.
Former England coach Gary Neville called Sterling’s half-time treatment on social media “absolutely disgusting”.
And Beckham said on Instagram: “It's wrong. We are in the semi-final of a World Cup. Every player deserves to be applauded.
“We as a country are united and behind the team.”
World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst argued Sterling turned in his finest performance of the tournament on Saturday.
His pace caused the Swedes problems and Hurst admired the way he got behind their back line. He said: “Raheem Sterling was terrific. He did more than in the other games, he was key in turning the defence, looked enormously fit.
";The runs he was making, it is a key factor as a front player.
“When I was under Ron Greenwood at West Ham, he would say to turn defenders around. Defenders are happy if you’re in front, you want to stretch them — do it until their tongues hang out.
“He had chances he could have done a bit more with but he was terrific.”
Sterling paid tribute to the Three Lion supporters after the win in Samara.
He wrote on Twitter: “Today, I want to thank all that have and continue to support @England as a team.
“This has helped us achieve what can only be described as a dream!!!
"To reach the semi-finals of a World Cup . . . WOW! We go again.”
So we will probably concede a lot of possession to them and then have to hit them on the counter-attack.
That is where the likes of Raheem will come into their own, with Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli finding those spaces around him.
I feel so proud of this team. People have always expected us to fail at World Cups and now it’s different. The feeling around the country is we will succeed.
We have already gone past the point where we just wanted England to at least show some pride and passion.
We take that as a given now. We know these lads will give everything. The question is, have they got the belief and the ability to go all the way?
We are in a position we never dreamed of.
Yes, the draw has been favourable but we’ve had so-called easy teams to beat in the past and haven’t done it.
The role of the manager was called the impossible job but Southgate is making it look remarkably easy by showing faith in his players and giving them clear direction.
They have worked their socks off to get into this position, many by playing in the lower leagues which is why they are so humble about their achievements.
I’m walking around at the moment thinking, ’Yes, we can do this, we really can’.
I’m a very, very happy England fan. We are on the cusp of greatness.
