Copyright GIVEMESPORT
As the son of an Olympic hurdler it is no surprise that Seth Ridgeon can overcome most obstacles. The Fulham midfielder’s dad, Jon, won a silver medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1987 World Championships and competed for Team GB at the ‘88 Games in Seoul. Last week, Seth was on the bench for Fulham in their dramatic penalty shootout Carabao Cup win at Wycombe Wanderers. Today he is training in the heat of Qatar on the cusp of a major international tournament which can catapult the next generation of players towards sustained success. The Young Lions won the U-17 World Cup in 2017 with Phil Foden, Marc Guehi, Jadon Sancho, Callum Hudson-Odoi and his Fulham team-mate Emile Smith Rowe in the squad. All of those names now regularly appear on the team sheets of major clubs and Manchester City star Foden boasts six Premier League titles in the eight years since. Ridgeon has been at Craven Cottage since he was eight and told GMS: “You feel the sense of pride, the sense of honour to represent England. I wouldn't say we feel extra pressure because you're playing for the country. “You just feel like you want to give your best and perform your best, to help best perform for the team. “It's exciting but to be honest you don't really think about it too much. I wouldn't say people are going into thinking you want to play well to get media attention or to get that sort of fame. “All of us are committed to playing well for each other and playing well to win the tournament. And when you do successful stuff in football you get add-ons from that. People are just focusing on playing well on the football side. “You just go over the journey as you go through your academy. We've had the build up to this World Cup for a while now, to get qualifiers earlier in the year, even starting last year. “It's just been a long journey, and this is the pinnacle of that journey, to get to show yourself on the main stage. “If you have a really good tournament out here it will put you in good position to go back to your club and just keep building on your performances and have that extra confidence. “So it's just taking each game as it is, then you go back to your club and focus on that and just keep doing as best as you can. “My dad was an athlete and sport's always been in my family. I get most of my ability from him but mum will be annoyed if I don’t put her in the mix too. “My dad was very high level so it's just always been something part of my family. I’m reasonably quick myself. I can do 100 metres in 11.4 seconds but that’s in spikes on a track. I’d put myself up there as a fast player but some of my team-mates might disagree." With 48 teams competing, it’s the biggest and toughest ever Under-17s World Cup, played in the same country where England reached the last eight under former boss Gareth Southgate. This year they start their Group E campaign against Venezuela with Egypt and Haiti to come before the knockout stages. The world’s major nations are also out in the desert and if England go all the way to the final on November 27, that means almost a month away, thousands of miles from home for young boys like Ridgeon who only sat his GCSEs in the summer - smashing it with 7s, 8s and 9s. He said: “When people play England they're going to be scared to play us. They're going to believe we're a good side. I wouldn't say we’re favourites, but we're definitely one of the strongest teams in the tournament. “We have a strong base at the back, good wingers with Reigan Heskey of Manchester City. And some of the players that were in the Euros last summer and were big names for us, people like Alejandro Rodriguez.” Ironically, Rodriguez was born in Venezuela but has opted to play for the Three Lions. Heskey is the son of former Liverpool and 62-cap England striker Emile Heskey. Sporting DNA runs through coach Neil Ryan’s squad. Ridgeon said: “Venezuela are South American and will want to be physical, and you run hard. But, I mean, we've looked at them, and we definitely see we can get a lot of joy with the ball and dominate the game, and we just have to come with the right attitude and the right mindset to win the game. And if we do our job, then we'll be in a good position. “If we do go all the way it's about, it's about four or five weeks away from home. That's why being together as a squad is so important. Having friends within the squad, being together, making room for each other to have fun is important. “Getting out of the hotel, enjoying yourself, not only just focusing on the football, but also having time to let your mind go. Being a strong team allows the days to count down. Just be prepared for each game and enjoy the moment. “People are always on the ping pong table, playing PS4. We'll do NFL games, basketball games. Just being interactive with each other and enjoying whatever's around, just to take your mind off things.” Sixth former Ridgeon must also refocus and study for A Levels in PE and Politics. It’s not just his football education that is important. Adjusting to the heat in Qatar is another difficulty with temperatures exceeding 31 degrees centigrade during the day this week. He said: “The temperature is a lot higher here. It's about preparing yourself physically and mentally to be able to perform in those situations, because if we can't, then we'll struggle. But I think the team's definitely got into a position where we're comfortable with the heat, and we're almost acclimatized to the time zone to be ready to perform.”
