The man who knocked England out of the 1986 with his Hand of God goal yesterday gave them the perfect lift going into 2018 by picking them out of Pot 2 to join Belgium, Tunisia and Panama in Group G.
Draw host Gary Lineker commented during the ceremony in the Kremlin that, “Diego has always been good with his hands!” and that sentiment was later echoed by Southgate.
“I thought Gary captured that well,” said Southgate, smiling. “Having played Brazil last month, I wasn’t disappointed to be missing out on them in the group. They will be serious contenders.
“Having said that Belgium, with the quality of players they have, the way they have qualified, they are a really top team.”
England begin their campaign against Tunisia in Volgograd on June 14 – the longest trip they face from their Ropina base near St Petersburg. Panama will be the opponents in Nizhny Novgorod on June 24, before what looks set to be a group decider four days later against Belgium in Kaliningrad.
The three round trips will see England clock up more than 4,000 miles but it was by no means the worst case scenario. And Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has far bigger problems much closer to home.
“My daughter Luella is English so that is the first battle I’m going to have when I get home,” he said.
“Who will she support? That’s the difficult question. She was born in England but she’s still young so I’m sure I can persuade her to support Belgium.”
Even Panama, World Cup novices after dumping out the United States during qualifying, have ties with the England team and its management team. Manager Hernan Dario Gomez was in charge of the Colombia team which faced England in 1998 – a group which also included Group G’s fourth team, Tunisia.
“Panama is currently at a point of learning, of progressing,” he said. “It’s a high level for Panama and we have to get a lot better but that’s why we’ve come isn’t it? To play against the big names.
“I haven’t come here to play against the same sides. We want to face sides that show you, that educate you. It’s a World Cup. Panama is preparing for exactly this.”
Spain and Portugal will go head-to-head in Group B with Morocco and Iran, while defending champions Germany kick off their campaign against Mexico before facing Sweden and South Korea in the remaining group games.