England prepare to take on Tunisia in their World Cup 2018 opener

In their last 15 outings at either a World Cup or European Championships, England have won just three of their opening matches. But as he prepares to lead his side into battle against Tunisia tomorrow, Gareth Southgate can at least take some confidence from one of the rare times things went right.

Twenty years ago, almost to the day, England took on Tunisia in their opening game of the 1998 World Cup in Marseille. Southgate was in Glenn Hoddle’s back four, and thanks to goals from Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes, England claimed a comfortable 2-0 victory. They were expected to win, and they did. Sometimes, even with England, it can be that simple.

Southgate’s side will start as strong favourites again tomorrow, and there is no reason why they cannot secure a similarly routine success. They boast the better players – a divide that became even more acute when Tunisia’s star striker, Youssef Mskani, was ruled out of the entire World Cup – and have enjoyed an uncharacteristically smooth preparation.

Southgate has developed a clear tactical template, and the players have known who is going to be starting tomorrow’s game in Volgograd for the last couple of days. Harry Maguire will get the nod at centre-half, Ashley Young will be preferred to Danny Rose at left-back, and Jordan Henderson will start ahead of Eric Dier in midfield. Unlike at a number of previous tournaments, when it felt as though chaos was allowed to rein, England’s build-up to Russia has been methodical and well planned-out. A lack of clear thinking cannot be an excuse this time around.

That is not to say that tomorrow’s game will be simple of course. With Mskani unavailable, and Sunderland’s Wahbi Khazri expected to be leading the line as a false number nine, Tunisia’s game plan will be unashamedly defensive.

Expect Nabil Maaloul’s side to defend on the edge of their 18-yard box and station their two defensive midfielders within a couple of yards of their back four. Tunisia’s attacking wide players – expected to be Ellyes Skhiri and Anice Badri – will effectively function as auxiliary full-backs for much of the game.

There have been some thrilling attacking displays in the opening few World Cup matches – most notably from Spain, who would have beaten Portugal had it not been for Cristiano Ronaldo’s genius, and Russia, who ruthlessly exploited the limitations of their opponents, Saudi Arabia.

But there have also been some resolute defensive performances that have led to a positive result. Iran’s containing job on Morocco was rewarded when they claimed a last-gasp winner, Denmark withstood some spirited attacking from Peru to claim all three points and Iceland saw Argentina enjoy almost 80 per cent of possession yet still took a point. Tunisia will look at how those sides played and think that if they can hang in there against England, they will have a chance of stealing a win.

Patience will be the name of the game for Southgate’s players, both in terms of attacking ambition and defensive focus. Faced with a massed wall of defenders, Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard in particular have to be prepared to pull players around and drift into areas of the field where they can disrupt Tunisia’s defensive organisation.

In some ways, England have to treat this game as if it was a qualifier against a mid-ranking European side whose main ambition is to string as many men as they can across the face of their 18-yard box. Think Slovakia away at the start of World Cup qualifying, where England knocked on the door for 95 minutes before Adam Lallana finally broke through, or Slovenia at Wembley when Harry Kane secured a 1-0 win in the 94th minute.

There is every chance this is going to be one of those kind of games, and as Uruguay proved against Egypt on Friday, it doesn’t matter when the winner comes, as long as it eventually arrives.

Uruguay were able to celebrate a 1-0 win on Friday because their defensive reliability meant one goal at the other end was always going to be enough. That has to be a key focus for England this evening, and while Jordan Pickford is likely to be a bystander for long periods, the former Sunderland goalkeeper has to make sure he is ready for the occasional task that is asked of him. Similarly, while Kyle Walker, John Stones and Maguire will spend much of the evening feeding the ball in to their midfielders, they have to be switched on to their main duty of defending.

At the last Euros in France, England dominated their opening game against Russia, but were undone when one sloppy piece of defending allowed Vasili Berezutski to score a stoppage-time equaliser. Had Roy Hodgson’s side held out for a 1-0 win, who knows how the rest of the tournament might have panned out?

In an ideal world, England will cut loose tomorrow and win at a canter. World Cups don’t tend to work like that though – especially when England are involved – so a scrappy 1-0 will do. Either way, if Southgate can evoke the spirit of 98, England will be up and running.