Inside the reception of the hotel at St George’s Park, home to all 23 England teams, there is a striking, backlit canvas that celebrates the country’s most capped players. The England cap wall features those from the men’s, women’s, para and futsal teams who have at least 50 caps. Parallel with Alan Shearer and nestled above Harry Kane is the comedian Josh Pugh, a staple of the partially sighted team vying to win the IBSA World Games. “Sir Stanley Matthews is on it, Sir Bobby Charlton, bloody Beckham, it’s just amazing,” says Pugh, who is set to win his 62nd cap on Saturday. “I never get bored of seeing it. If my little boy goes there when he’s 20 and sees his dad’s name … I’m so proud.”
England’s partially sighted team are amateurs but prepare as professionally as possible. They study opposition clips, work with sports scientists and nutritionists, and swap pennants and sing the national anthem before their futsal matches. A draw with Italy in their final Group A match would cement a place in Monday’s semi-finals. “This is our World Cup,” Pugh says. “We eat properly, we train hard. It’s hard. But it should be; it should be hard to be an England player.” At the start of the week the squad received good-luck messages from friends and family. “I’m a Celebrity-style,” he says. “We once had a manager who made us watch a clip from the film 300 and we had a player sent off inside the first 10 minutes the next day.”
