Eyes on the ball
Cahill warns England against looking too far ahead in World Cup
St Petersburg: England and Belgium are perhaps better connected than any two countries at the World Cup because of the sheer number of players with Premier League experience but for defender Gary Cahill the link is not a happy one.
Cahill, who could start in today’s firstagainst-second clash in Group G, was pushed in the back by Belgian winger Dries Mertens during England’s final friendly before Euro 2012.
Launched into the shoulder of goalkeeper Joe Hart, Cahill broke his jaw and was ruled out of the tournament.
Six years later, in March, Cahill was on holiday in Dubai after being left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad, and he bumped into Mertens in a restaurant.
“He took the time out to come over and apologise for that, which for me was dead and buried, and I actually respected him a hell of a lot for doing that,” Cahill said.
“Obviously I was literally going on the plane, that was a huge time for me, I felt like I was in condition to start at that tournament. I felt the age I was at, the form I was in, I felt I would’ve played. It was a huge blow.”
Only six of Belgium’s 23-man squad have not played in England’s Premier League but if the teams are holding back in Kaliningrad it will not be out of politeness.
The winner of the match, and therefore the group, is likely to face a tougher path through the knockout stages, with Germany or Brazil potentially waiting in the quarter-finals.
“The discussions have been to go and win the game and that’s the truth,” Cahill said.
“You can’t look too far ahead. We were looking in the Euros (in 2016) at playing France in the stadium and it was going to be a fantastic occasion, and then it never got to that. You can look too far down the line.”
England were beaten by Iceland in the last 16 but their momentum was arguably lost the game before, in a goalless draw with Slovakia, when coach Roy Hodgson made six changes to a side that had just snatched a last-minute win over Wales.
Gareth Southgate must now decide whether to rotate his own side, and by how much.
In SArANSK, defender Felipe Baloy would like to experience Panama’s first victory on international football’s greatest stage since 1978 when they face Tunisia today.
“When we came to this World Cup, we knew we were going to have three really hard matches against Belgium, England and Tunisia,” Baloy said before training on Tuesday. “We knew the first two were difficult. The last match against England, we couldn’t achieve a victory, but we achieved our first goal.
“That’s not to say we’re going to beat Tunisia, but we hope to have a victory to give as a gift to our people in Panama so they can celebrate and be proud of us.”
Baloy also would like as many fans as possible to watch Panama’s pursuit of history, rather than the other Group G finale between England and Belgium at the same time.
“It’s difficult to ask fans to watch our match instead of England and Belgium because they have players who are world class,” Baloy said.
Panama and Tunisia are both eliminated, while England and Belgium have advanced to the round of 16. — Agencies