Almost loose pass before England game (8)
I believe the answer is:
lacrosse
'game' is the definition.
(lacrosse is a kind of game)
'almost loose pass before england' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'loose' becomes 'lax' ('lax' is associated in meaning with 'loose').
'pass' becomes 'cross' (crossing is a kind of passing**).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'england' becomes 'e'.
'lax' with its final letter removed is 'la'.
'la'+'cross'+'e'='LACROSSE'
(Other definitions for lacrosse that I've seen before include "Like thirteen of the other clues in the French" , "Ball game using netted stick" , "Score's uncertain after the Spanish" , "Game played with netted sticks" , "Game played with nets on sticks" .)