Internal Spurs World Cup Rivalry Begins

The 2018 World Cup draw on Friday, December 1 caused great intrigue for Tottenham fans, with potentially nine Spurs players in line to share the same pitch in the final Group G game on June 18, 2018.

England were drawn in the same pool as Belgium, along with Tunisia and Panama – with the expectation that the two European nations will battle it out for first and second place.

Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur, December 2016 (08).JPG by Ardfern (CC BY-SA 4.0)

There are five senior Three Lions internationals currently in Spurs’ first-team squad – Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier – and all are in with a great shout of making the final cut, particular the former trio.

As for Spurs’ Belgian contingent, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Mousa Dembele are also all expected to be in Roberto Martinez’s Red Devils roster – barring injuries, of course.

But will this impact us in any way, after a poor run of form in the Premier League, or can the inter-squad rivalry somehow inspire more unity?

Being outside the top four at present and winning just one of their last five in the league, it’ll certainly be a tough ask to command an immediate change in results, but that extra fire after the World Cup draw could surely help.

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Kane, who is incidentally the 16/1 joint-fifth favourite to be top scorer in Russia in the international football betting, is in blistering form this season – despite his yearly false start in August.

A total of 16 goals in 18 matches in all competitions at the time of writing makes him currently one of the world’s most prolific and feared players, and if everyone else clicks we know we can be unstoppable – just ask Real Madrid.

There were actual tears when @JanVertonghen & @ericdier saw England & Belgium grouped together in the #WorldCupDraw… #THFC pic.twitter.com/SzpUmWf1Bu

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) 1 December 2017

Hurricane Harry’s displays until the end of the club campaign will no doubt be more closely followed by his Belgian defending teammates Vertonghen (who actually watched the draw with Dier) and Alderweireld – particularly the latter, who can watch from the stands being out injured, hopefully only for the next few weeks.

The same goes for almost certain England call-ups Alli and Dier. The notable close friends will no doubt keep a careful eye on their Belgian counterparts on the training ground!  Fullbacks Rose and Tripper’s places in Gareth Southgate’s final plans are less concrete, but expect them to give a final push before the season comes to a close.

Dembele will have the best view of all the above-mentioned stars on the pitch, as he controls the game from the centre of the park, so again England Spurs stars will need to be wary of the magic man.

There is no suggestion of course that there will be any malice or heavy tackles in training in a bid to disrupt their teammates, but expect a few soft sly kicks and friendly banter…

Of course, there is plenty to proud of as a Tottenham fan too for this international duel, with the potential for nearly half the players on the pitch on the biggest footballing stage being Spurs’ own!