England go hard for third
ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate admits the World Cup third- place playoff is a game that no team wants to play, but tonight’s match against Belgium offers the chance to finish the tournament on a winning note.
A gut- wrenching 2- 1 loss to Croatia after extra- time denied England a shot at a second World Cup triumph, instead setting up a consolation game against familiar foes Belgium.
Roberto Martinez’s side, who were beaten 1- 0 by France in the last four, topped Group G ahead of England after an Adnan Januzaj goal settled a low- key encounter in Kaliningrad.
Both coaches heavily rotated their teams in that game, and a similar scenario is likely in Saint Petersburg, with several fringe players pushing for a start.
“The honest thing is, it’s not a game any team wants to play in,” said Southgate.
However, he insisted that will not alter England’s approach as they look to achieve their best finish since they won the competition in 1966.
“We’ll want to give a performance of huge pride, there’s no question about that,” said Southgate.
“Every time we wear the shirt of our national team we want to play with pride, we want to play well and we want to win.”
For Belgium and their “golden generation”, many of their key players should return for the 2022 World Cup, even if Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen will probably be gone by then.