Gareth Southgate is encouraging his young players to believe they can win the World Cup and create a fresh narrative for an England team that for so long has buckled under the weight of expectation at major tournaments.

The manager was encouraged to hear Dele Alli and others publicly state their belief that England are capable of reaching the final in Moscow against the odds – and even winning it.

“Why would I limit what they feel is possible?” Southgate said. “My job is to allow people to dream. Make the impossible seem possible. None of us are going to get excited or get out of bed just for getting out of the group. They are at an age and have hunger, enthusiasm and no little quality so they can certainly keep improving.

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“We have got to improve to reach the latter stages of a tournament and that is going to take a lot of work over the next few weeks and a huge commitment. But I am seeing evidence that they’re embracing that challenge.”

England are not only one of the youngest in the tournament – only France and Nigeria have younger squads – they have the fewest caps of any squad. The average number of England appearances is 20 compared with 34 per player across all the squads. Southgate acknowledged concerns about a lack of experience but claimed it was outweighed by the benefits. “That’s allowing us to create an environment where they’re actually having a go at things we’re asking them to do,” he said. “Sometimes I think: ‘They’re never going to go for this.’ They’re at times painstakingly putting up with some of the things I throw their way so, that I think, would be more difficult with older players.

“They’d possibly be a little less malleable and a little less open to new suggestions, but they really are having a go at everything and they are keen to show people how much it means to them to play for England.”

If optimism and openness alone could win games, England would breeze through the group stage on the basis of their performances in front of the media in the past week. The manager praised Danny Rose for speaking publicly about his battle with depression. He has encouraged the squad to tell their backstories to each other to improve cohesion on the pitch but also to improve the public image of the team.

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“We’re asking them to open up quite a bit on their own feelings about things,” Southgate said. “We’ve discussed the possible situation over racism, which was certainly an important connection between the team. It’s not a comfortable space for us to be at times but it helps to build a togetherness. You get a closer connection.

“We’ve spoken at length this week about how we’re really proud to represent everybody but really the guy next to you is the most important one going into this tournament. You’ve got to be there for him, you’ve got to support him, you’ve got to be available when he needs to pass the ball to you and you’ve got to be covering his back if he slips or makes a mistake and that’s what we want to engender.”

The 47-year-old urged his side to forget about the past and make history in Russia. He has discussed with his players comments made by Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard about bitter inter‑club rivalries destroying the spirit within England camps at previous tournaments. “We have listened to compelling interviews from Rio and Frank and Steven and we’ve used those to say we’ve got to make sure we put those club situations to one side but I don’t think there is that intense rivalry at the moment between our top clubs that there was then,” he said. “The past can help us and inform us but it shouldn’t shape us and we’ve got to be our own team.

“This is a diverse team with different sets of skills and they’ve got a chance to make their own history. Whenever you’re in an England shirt you have an opportunity to make history.”