“We understand that Brazil is a long way away from friends and family,” says Oxlade-Chamberlain. “It’s one of the small sacrifices you have to make to be lucky enough to come to an amazing tournament like the World Cup. You are in a hotel for a long time. The good thing with our manager is he does understand that there are times, if possible, when a mental break from football for six or seven hours is really good. Little breaks are good because then you can hit the ground running when it comes to training. He did that in the Euros with us. Whenever it was possible, whenever it was the right time, we would get time off to relax and do things that weren’t football related.