Kobbie Mainoo: The Next Unlikely Hero for England?

Sixty years on from England’s one and only World Cup triumph, the shadow of Geoff Hurst still stretches across every major tournament the Three Lions enter.

Back in 1966, Hurst was not the headline act. Jimmy Greaves was. Greaves was the superstar finisher, the man every England fan of a certain age still talks about in almost mythical terms. Hurst began that World Cup behind him in the pecking order, a capable striker at West Ham but hardly the face of a nation’s dreams.

Then football did what it so often does. It twisted.

Greaves suffered an untimely injury. Sir Alf Ramsey turned to Hurst. The understudy stepped into the spotlight, and by the time the final whistle blew at Wembley against West Germany, he had written his name into English football folklore with a hat-trick in a World Cup final. Supporters were already streaming onto the pitch before it was, in the famous words, finally “all over”.

No England side has matched that feat since. No player has replicated Hurst’s impact on a stage that big. His story remains the template for every unlikely hero who dares to believe that one break is all it takes.

That is the context in which Kobbie Mainoo’s name now surfaces.

England’s search for control in midfield has been a recurring theme, the one nagging doubt in a squad otherwise stacked with attacking talent. To some, Mainoo looks like the answer waiting patiently on the bench. To Michael Owen, he looks like the kind of player who could yet turn a tournament on its head.

Owen, speaking to GOAL in his role as a UK ambassador for Casino.org, admitted he has sympathy for the young midfielder’s situation, and sees echoes of that old Hurst-Greaves story in the current England setup.

“I do a little bit, because I think he's definitely got the ability to play a role in the World Cup. And who knows? Things change, you get unlikely heroes,” Owen said.

He didn’t need long to reach for the most powerful example in English football history.

“Our greatest moment ever in this country, winning the World Cup, who would have thought Geoff Hurst would have been playing? Jimmy Greaves was the best thing since sliced bread. My dad just raves about Jimmy Greaves. When anyone's talking about the best England XI and things like that, my dad's like, ‘Jimmy Greaves’ straight away. He was insanely good. Now, things happen, and all of a sudden, Geoff Hurst plays, and look what happens.”

That is the point. Tournaments are not won only by the names on the billboard. They are won by those who are ready when chaos arrives.

For Owen, Mainoo has to live in that mindset.

“There will be, or there could be, a surprise. And it could be Mainoo, you can't switch off,” he said, before turning his gaze on England’s campaign as a whole.

He is blunt about expectations. England, in his eyes, should have strolled through much of what they have faced.

“Really, what we've done so far, if we had been knocked out, there would have been a huge inquest. I mean, nobody should be really in our league.

“We’ve built it up as if Mexico was the hardest game of all time, but come on. Norway, if we played Norway at a neutral ground, let's say we play Norway in Spain tomorrow, people would expect us to beat them two or 3-0. So when you look back, we should be beating every single team.”

The tone shifts when he looks at what comes next.

“This [Argentina] is now the first game, this is a proper game, this is one that is a toss of a coin, this is one that's going to challenge us. But everything so far has been what you would expect from England, surely.”

This is where tournaments tighten. This is where legacies start to form. The margin for error shrinks, the pressure grows, and managers look down the bench for something – or someone – different.

Owen expects drama. He expects new names to emerge.

“We will see, but if we're going to win it, there are going to be so many twists and turns and so many heroes that we won't even be thinking at the moment. And Mainoo could be one of them.”

Sixty years ago, Hurst stepped out from the shadows and never went back. The question now is simple: if England’s World Cup run turns wild, will Mainoo be the one who seizes the chaos?