"Obviously we work on them in attack and defense, and they are vitally important for us," said Ashley Young, one of England's set-piece specialists. "They have worked in our favor and we'll carry on working on them."A decade ago, England had one of the best set-piece takers in soccer in David Beckham, whose precision and ability to curl the ball in from the wing was an important weapon at major tournaments.

Forget bending them like Beckham. In England's class of 2018, free kicks, corners and wide crosses are mostly provided by England's wing backs, Young and Kieran Trippier, and they are proving tough to defend.

AP