Vertonghen: Very weird to play against Kane

WITH their teams’ places in the World Cup last 16 already guaranteed, England coach Gareth Southgate and his Belgium counterpart Roberto Martinez may do a bit of tinkering for tonight’s Group G decider.

Which team finishes top is the only thing at stake when England meet Belgium.

“We’ll have to have a think about the team we want to put out,” England’s Southgate, pictured, told the BBC.

“There’s an opportunity as well for players that need a match because they’ve not played for a while.

“But we also want to keep winning football matches, it’s a nice decision to have,” Southgate said.

The two teams are coming off impressive performances at the weekend with Belgium beating Tunisia 5-2 and England thrashing Panama 6-1. That has left them level on six points with an identical goal difference.

While the winners will claim top spot, a draw would take it to a fair play tiebreaker based on discipline, which England currently have the edge in.

“The idea is to look at everyone individually,” Martinez told the BBC.

“In a tournament like the World Cup you learn very quickly to do that. We’ve got a few knocks so it is an opportunity to refresh the starting line-up.”

Each team’s top scorer could get the day off.

Harry Kane became the third Englishman to score a World Cup hat-trick against Panama and is the tournament’s top goal scorer with five goals.

Southgate admits to having to battle sentiment when it comes to his captain’s availability.

“He’s gone ahead of some major names in English football history in terms of World Cup goals... but he also knows the team is the most important thing and we have to make decisions that are right for the team,” he said.

“Obviously it will be very important for Harry so I always have to balance what’s right for the squad as well.”

A decision on Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku, who scored twice in each of the first two games, could be easier after he injured his ankle against Tunisia.

Kane could go up against two familiar faces if he plays, as Tottenham Hotspur teammates Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld man the middle of the Belgium backline.

“It’s going to be very weird to play against him (Kane), to play against all of them, in a way, it’s going to be funny,” Vertonghen said.

“I’m happy for him that he’s doing well. Hopefully not that well on Thursday.” – dpa