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Published 19 January 2023 5 min read
England Men's Senior Team

If I could…with James Ward-Prowse

Written by:

Frank Smith

Get to know Southampton captain and England international James Ward-Prowse as he answers a host of questions starting with ‘If I could…’

1) If I could…play alongside one player from the history of world football, it would be…

…considered a silly answer because he would end up taking all the free-kicks but it would have to be David Beckham. He was my role model and idol growing up and to be in the same team as him would take my game to a new level. He would take all the free-kicks but it would still be good to play with him.

2) If I could…improve one part of my game today, it would be…

…probably my speed. I wouldn’t say it is a weakness but it is something which I have been trying to develop for a while. Some players are naturally gifted with it and I wasn’t so it is an area I need to put more work into.

3) If I could…take one part of an England team-mate’s game, it would be…

Conor Coady’s leadership. Everyone leads in different ways and we all have our own way of doing that but the way he consistently leads at such a high level is really impressive.

4) If I could…go back to one event in history, it would be…

…probably a personal moment when I scored the winning free-kick against Tottenham. To be able to execute the skill for your team to win the game, and for 30,000 people to be cheering, was one of those moments that you do not get very often in your career or your life.

5) If I could…change one thing about the world, it would be…

…with the state of the world at the moment and what is going on in Ukraine, it would be to stop all kinds of war.

6) If I could…change one thing about football, it would be…

…to not have throw-ins and instead do kick-ins. A throw-in is a hard skill but it is even harder with the ball at your feet so I would say that.

James Ward-Prowse had some kind words to say about Conor Coady
James Ward-Prowse had some kind words to say about Conor Coady

7) If I could…give my eight-year-old self one bit of advice, it would be…

…to just enjoy the ups and downs of life and not get too down when it is bad and not too high when it is high. Just enjoy the journey.

8) If I could…speak to that child who is considering joining their local team but isn’t sure, I would tell them…

…to enjoy it. What my dad said to me before every training session was to go out and enjoy myself, don’t think too much about trying to do particular things and just enjoy playing football.

9) If I could…only eat one item of food for the rest of my life, it would be…

…a breakfast option. Something like a poached egg or fried egg on toast with avocado. That is a bit of me.

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10) If I could…choose who would play me in the film of my life story, it would be…

…well I’m not too good with films and the names of characters and things like that but I would go Ryan Gosling. I have seen a few things that he has been involved with and he seems to have a bit about him.

11) If I could…invite three guests around for dinner, it would be…

…Tiger Woods because I would like an insight into his career and life. I would have to go David Beckham because I haven’t met him yet. And the third one would be someone like Winston Churchill just to hear what he would have to offer.

12) If I could…have a second dream job, I would be…

…golfer, 100 per cent. You get to travel the world, play in nice weather and play on nice golf courses. There are quite a few good golfers I play with from Southampton: Shane Long, Theo Walcott, Harry Lewis and quite a few others.

13) If I could…be one person for a day, it would be…

…Tiger Woods. He is an elite sportsman with so much history so I would go for him.

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