England’s Ollie Watkins ready to make World Cup impact off the bench

By Jonathan Veal, Press Association, Kansas City

England striker Ollie Watkins knows his World Cup moment could be just around the corner.

Watkins wrote himself into English football folklore two years ago when he came off the bench to score a last-minute winner against the Netherlands and send his country through to the Euro 2024 final.

He is back in familiar territory in North America – on the bench behind Harry Kane in a designated ‘finisher’ role.

The 30-year-old did not make it on to the pitch in Wednesday’s Group L opener against Croatia but knows his time will come.

“I feel like I understand the competition now, I understand that everyone has their moment, everyone has a part to play and, when I see other players having their moment, I’m really happy for them,” he said.

“I experienced mine at a great time, obviously in the semi-final, but leading up to that point, before everyone had a part to play in certain moments and I know that’s the same for this tournament as well.

“I feel like there’s no pressure on me to come on at the end of the day.

“I think the expectation for me is people don’t see me playing, obviously they see Harry playing, but I know what I can bring to the table.

“I watch the game when I’m on the bench, I can see the game opens up.

“It’s a completely different game when you start a game of football than when you finish it. I’ve experienced that as a substitute, there are so many more opportunities when you come on.

“A lot of people are tired, they lose focus and sometimes it can be better to be a substitute than to start the game.

“I’ve spoken about it so many times before, I said I was going to score that day and I did.

“It’s the best feeling to come on and change the game and I’m hoping to do that again this tournament.”

Watkins’ place at the tournament looked in jeopardy when he was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad in March, but a sparkling run of form at the end of the season, where he fired Aston Villa to Europa League glory and a top-four Premier League finish, saw him make the plane.

Watkins has been speaking to former England striker Michael Owen over the last 14 months and has been told he is too nice on the pitch.

“There were times where I was maybe a bit too nice on the pitch,” he said. “He just gave me an insight on how he felt I could improve and at the end of the day I felt like Michael Owen was underrated really.

“I think people don’t talk about how good he was. Maybe just because it was the start of his career, he had that amazing run.

“I think if it was later on his career, people would talk about him a lot or hold him in a lot higher regard.

“I just reached out to him and it’s good that I’ve got a player of that quality to use as a sound board.”