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Penalty-taking execution aside, Walker\u2019s individual display against France in the World Cup quarter-final in Qatar means that England are the only team heading to Germany this summer who do not have to travel in complete trepidation of Mbappe and Les Bleus. And on Saturday, he showed he can even be the match-saver at the other end, albeit with his first international goal in 77 appearances, becoming the longest-serving England player ever to open his account.<\/p>\n
The goal was a sign of England\u2019s new maturity. Oleksandr Zinchenko\u2019s euphoric opener had whipped the crowd up into even more of a frenzy as for the first time in this qualifying campaign, Gareth Southgate\u2019s side found itself in a bit of a pinch. Yet here was Harry Kane, the centre-forward and record goalscorer, quarter-backing himself in the centre-circle next to Harry Maguire and Marc Guehi, behind the rest of the England team.<\/p>\n
His pass, though, was exquisite. And it was full-back Walker, bursting in from the right, who collected it imperiously and kept his head to poke it past the Ukraine goalkeeper with the coolness of finish you\u2019d expect from Kane himself. However, that was not the only reason England had to be thankful to Walker.<\/p>\n
Pressing for a winner in the second was always going offer Ukrainie hope of a counter-attack and on a handful of occasions they did indeed surge forward to a huge expectant roar. But here comes Walker, zooming past everybody, to mop up in such quiet and effective fashion. It wasn\u2019t just his pace, it was his anticipation.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think he has got better with age,\u201d Southgate said, \u201cAnd that doesn\u2019t always happen. Mudryk has not hit the heights yet in the Premier League but he\u2019s a bloody dangerous player. His ability to control those counter-attacks was critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also the way Kyle\u2019s trained all week, his influence on younger players in the group. He\u2019s got huge experience of winning big matches and all week, I pulled him two or three days into the training because his focus was really clear, the way he was organising on the pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s enjoying the extra responsibility he\u2019s had at his club and I know he\u2019s ready to embrace that with us as well. His all-round game, great composure in a position where you don\u2019t always find it and our senior players were important and he was the pick against Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n