Emile Heskey: England players can go a bit crazy at the World Cup

Ex-England international reveals how teammates coped with the complications of major tournaments and how matches against the best are won in midfield.

 Ex-England international Emile Heskey has told William Hill’s Stripped Podcast how fellow English internationals dealt with the isolation of major football tournaments and the issues that arise when so far away from home.

Speaking to William Hill’s Stripped Podcast, a series in which ex-footballers and celebrities are invited to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting their favourite shirts, Heskey said: “When you got to major tournaments, you are away for 6-8 weeks at times. And imagine being in a little section of a hotel for that time, you have your arcade machines which is great, but that is kind of it.

“Becks [David Beckham] got on with everyone, he was a fantastic captain, and he worked well with Sven-Goran Eriksson. Becks would sit down with the manager and discuss what they could do to get us out of the hotel, whether that would be shopping, going for a walk or going to a restaurant. You’re eating the same food day in and day out. Players can go a bit crazy.

“David James was a great one, I always tell this story. This could be why we chose to do other things! It was the 2002 World Cup. He decided to stay awake for 24 hours to see how he trained. He stayed awake through the whole day until the next morning to see how he trained. I asked why are you doing that? He said, ‘just in case I have a bad sleep’. I asked, ‘why would you have a bad sleep?’ and he said, ‘you never know’. I think he was losing it a bit. He did it for fun, basically!”

Jude Bellingham

Heskey was capped 62 times by his country and was lucky to play with some of the best players ever to wear the Three Lions shirt in the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes. The latest midfield sensation in the England side is Jude Bellingham and after some brilliant performances during the World Cup in Qatar, Heskey believes the 19-year-old could go right to the top.

“Jude Bellingham is arguably one of the best midfielders in the world. How good can he be?” Heskey said. “The sky is the limit, really. Him, Gavi, Pedri and Jamal Musiala – those three can be whatever they want to be to be honest.

“They are so level-headed, they have probably taken a leaf out of my book, they don’t care too much, they go out there and play. Nothing actually phases them, which is great, because then you see the true them. I love watching them. Jude Bellingham, they are talking about £100 million, it could be even more. He is a 19-year-old that is arguably the best at this moment in time, it could be even more.”

The 5-1 win over Germany

The 44-year-old scored 13 times for England, including in that famous 5-1 victory over Germany in 2001 and as Heskey recaps it was one of the greatest nights in his career.

He said: “Sven-Goran Eriksson comes in, and his first competitive game is the Germany game. They hadn’t lost a game at home in 55 matches, and then we went 1-0 down after seven minutes.

“Stevie [Gerrard] and [Paul] Scholesy were really at it in the midfield, they were at them, getting close to their first touch, winning niggly fouls. We were really solid and then ended up scoring goals at the key points in the game. We scored to make it 2-1 just before halftime. They should have been 2-1 up at halftime, but they were behind. When we made it 3-1, that was it.”