A CARD game may well be the secret to England’s success at Euro 2024.
The Three Lions opened their campaign with a 1-0 win over Serbia – although Gareth Southgate’s men were far from their best.
Jude Bellingham scored the only goal of the game and whipped out a celebration not many had seen before.
And the Real Madrid star revealed that a card game was behind the celebration – and it’s one that England have played since at least the 2022 World Cup.
Speaking after their opening Euro 2024 game, Bellingham revealed that his celebration was because one of the England staff members always pulls the face.
Bellingham was talking about Werewolf.
He said: “When we play Wolf, one of the staff loves loves that face when he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.
“That was a group celebration for the Wolf, the Wolf crew.”
It is a card game which requires strategic thinking to come out on top and the objective of the game is to identify and kill the werewolves amongst the villagers.
Werewolf takes place over a series of game rounds and each round has two phases – day and night.
During the day, the village discusses who they think is guilty and during the night, players can use special powers while the werewolves make their kill.
Players start by shuffling and dealing out the game cards, making sure to include two werewolves, a Doctor, and a Seer card.
There are also wild cards that can be played such as the Drunk, the Witch, and the Alpha Werewolf.
It starts off in the night phase where the moderator has the werewolves choose a victim, the Doctor is allowed to save one person, and the Seer gets to make a guess on the person they suspect of being a werewolf.
When the night round concludes, the day round starts and the players discuss their characters before taking a vote on who they believe is a werewolf.
That player is then killed and the night round begins again. The game continues until either the werewolves or the villagers win.
During the 2022 World Cup, Harry Kane admitted that it is a good way to build the team chemistry and a large group of the squad get involved.
ENGLAND began their Euros final campaign in Germany on June 16.
The team topped Group C despite only winning one match.
But that’s all behind them now as they prepare to take on Spain in the final on July 14.
Here’s their route to the final:
June 16 – vs Serbia: England win 1-0 with a goal from Jude Bellingham in the 13th minute.
June 20 – vs Denmark: Ended 1-1 after Harry Kane’s 18th minute strike was cancelled out by Morten Hjulmand.
June 25 – vs Slovenia: The match ended goalless but England topped the group with five points.
June 30 – vs Slovakia: In the last 16 clash Jude Bellingham saved England from being knocked out with a 91st minute equaliser. In extra time Harry Kane secured the win for the Three Lions.
July 6 – vs Switzerland: The quarter-final ended 1-1 after extra time with Bukayo Saka‘s reply to Breel Embolo’s strike. England won 5-3 on penalties.
July 10 – vs Netherlands: Another last gasp goal – this time by Ollie Watkins – saw England head into the final against Spain. Harry Kane scored from the spot to cancel out Xavi Simons’ 9th minute goal.
July 14 – vs Spain: England are in their first final on foreign soil and will be hoping to see off the challenge of Spain who won the Euros in 1964, 2008 and 2012.
Kane said at the time: “There about 16 or 17 of us that play Wolf and it is a great way to kill some time. It also helps with team bonding.
And Manchester City star Kalvin Phillips also revealed it’s a game you can enjoy by just watching.
Phillips said: “It’s definitely one you can watch as it’s quite funny and even if I’m not around there, when they get somebody out. You can hear them cheering by the pool.”
