Cesc Fabregas: We should try to win every game, no matter what

Morocco's Hakim Ziyach, left, challenges for the ball with Spain's Dani Carvajal during the group B match between Spain and Morocco. Photo / AP

Opinion

At every World Cup and European Championship I was part of, we played a game in the Spain camp that meant you knew every possible scenario of the tournament.

Everybody who travelled, including the players, the management, all the backroom staff, the kit men, everyone, predicted every score of every game as the tournament went along.

You got points for guessing the right winner, the right score and the right scorers and, at the end, the guy with the most points was the winner. I usually finished mid-table, I never won.

It helped to occupy us and it was good banter because everyone took part and wanted to have the bragging rights — especially the guys who were not the players. But it also meant we knew everything that could happen.

As players, we always knew exactly which side of the draw was best and which teams Spain could play and where. We used to talk about it, too, and discuss which teams and players we thought were strong and who were in the last 16 and quarter-finals.

I am sure the England players will know the scenario of their group and the last 16 before they kick off against Belgium. But, even though we sometimes knew it could get us a more difficult opponent, we always tried to win every game with Spain.

Our mentality was always to want to finish first. Every player knows who they could get next and what each result means, but for your dignity and for the country, you always want to go for the win, no matter what.

It is crazy that the amount of bookings could decide who wins the group and who comes second, but I do not expect the England and Belgium players to try to control this.

I have never been on any team where anybody has got booked on purpose, either to clean the bookings or for any other reason. Occasionally, it is obvious when you watch on television, you do not have to be smart to see some players get yellow cards on purpose to clean their bookings. But I have never done it and it has never been talked about in any of the teams I have been in.

I now expect England to get to a quarter-final or a semifinal, at least. I think they will do well — they are young, hungry.

So, I feel they have a lot of positives. You need a top striker in every country to do something big and England have it in Harry Kane, who is putting himself at a new level.

In tough moments, he performs and, for manager Gareth Southgate, he is probably the most important player. He is the most recognisable player in the England squad, he is the one that people, especially in Spain, know the most.

Kane has started well. He is a fantastic player and the type you can see is different to the rest. Year by year, he scores more goals, he gets more complete and if he keeps doing it in the World Cup, then he will be an even bigger name by the end of the summer.

Tottenham Hotspur must be extremely pleased that he signed a new contract before the tournament started.

- Telegraph Group Ltd