England beat Costa Rica 2-0 during the pre-World Cup warm-up and the match proved to be an eye-opener for a lot of people.
England manager Gareth Southgate decided to shuffle his first team – meaning players like Marcus Rashford and Fabian Delph came into the squad.
England captain Harry Kane also made way for Jamie Vardy as Southgate wanted to check out his bench before his team jets off to Russia to play the World Cup.
During their previous warm-up game against Nigeria at the Wembley, it was Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli who started in attacking midfield as part of the 3-5-2 formation that the England manager seems to be so fond of.
During the Costa Rica game though, Lingard and Alli made way for Fabian Delph and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
And the latter ended the game with stats that every England fan would be proud of.
Chelsea midfielder Loftus-Cheek played 80 minutes after which he made way for Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard.
And during these 80 minutes, the 22-year-old made a total of 34 passes with a 100% accuracy.
Yes, the Chelsea man managed to complete each and every pass that he attempted.
34 – Ruben Loftus-Cheek completed every single pass he attempted for England in the game against Costa Rica tonight (34/34). Control. pic.twitter.com/ibuNIDyWBu
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 7, 2018
And after this fantastic performance, England fans have been urging their manager to pick Loftus-Cheek in midfield during the World Cup.
We doubt Gareth Southgate will try such a huge experiment during the World Cup but, having said that the England manager does have a perfect alternative off the bench.
Loftus-Cheek spent the whole of last season away from his parent club Chelsea – out on loan to Crystal Palace. And it seems as if the regular game time he received under Roy Hodgson’s side has really helped him.
