Walker says England need ‘a miracle’ to win World Cup

Gareth Southgate’s men were unbeaten in qualifying for the finals in Russia, topping Group F by eight points.

But it was only two years ago that England suffered a humiliating exit from Euro 2016 at the hands of football minnows Iceland and Walker told talkSPORT radio on Wednesday: “I hope we can go as far as we can go, but we need to be realistic.

“To win the World Cup is going to be a miracle, but we have got the players to do it. A lot of us play in probably the best league in the world.”

The Manchester City full-back added: “We’ve got the players to do it, but have we got the experience going further along in competitions? No, we haven’t. Not in recent years.

“We need to be realistic. There are a lot of good teams out there and our record in tournaments has not been fantastic.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations inside the camp — England haven’t won a knockout game for God knows how many years, so for us to go there and win a knockout game, that would be a step in the right direction.”

England have won the World Cup just once, when they triumphed on home soil in 1966 after beating the then West Germany 4-3 after extra-time in a final at Wembley.