"We were playing every night, says Norton-Cuffy. It really helped us bond because you get to know people. In this day and age when everyone can be on their phones, you sit down, you have a laugh, you have a joke the group was really, really tight, everyone was together, and you saw that on the pitch when we ended up going and winning it."
"It was a quick, quick turnaround, so I would say we probably didn't get to enjoy it as much as we should have, but I think that's just football, he says. But I don't feel like it was a shock for this group to go and win it. We all felt like: We should win the tournament, and we are going to win the tournament,'"
The card game Werewolf, introduced to the senior England camp during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, became a nightly bonding activity for the England Under-21s. Players put phones aside, sat together, joked and learned about each other, creating a tight group dynamic that translated into on-pitch cohesion and a European title. Celebrations after the dramatic win were brief before players returned to club duties. Norton-Cuffy flew to Genoa after joining the club in August 2024 following a decade at Arsenal. He overcame early injuries to become a regular under Patrick Vieira and is widely recognised in the port city. Genoa are Italy's oldest club, founded by English expatriates.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]