Cahill’s World Cup fear not my problem
GARY CAHILL and Alvaro Morata have been told to stop moaning about their disappearing World Cup dreams after Chelsea boss Antonio Conte claimed he was not to blame for their international setbacks.
Twenty-four hours after former skipper Cahill was left out of England’s 27-man squad for the double-header against Holland and Italy, Morata learned he had been replaced in the Spanish squad by Diego Costa. England manager Gareth Southgate has always said priority will be given to those commanding regular first-team places and Cahill has been left out of four of Chelsea’s past five games.
Morata has started just one in two months.
But despite having international experience himself as a former boss of Italy, Conte has little sympathy for their predicaments with the World Cup starting in just three months.
“Hard time, hard time?” he said. “I don’t understand.
“There is only one way: to work hard and to show you deserve to play. I don’t see another way. You don’t complain.
“I can help them to improve if they work very hard to show they deserve to go. It is important for us to look at our problem, but I don’t think it is the right time for me to be looking at the problems of the national team.”
Conte’s main focus is on the quarter-final at Leicester but he did disclose that Southgate had chatted to Cahill before naming his squad.
“There was a chat between the player and the manager,” he said.
“Usually before making this decision you want to speak with the player to explain the reasons. Then there are two months for every player to show they deserve to go and play in the World Cup.
“But usually with the national team you can also call players that are not playing with regularity.
“When I was coach of the national team it happened, because I trusted in the players. It can happen when a player stays in a great team and there is a lot of competition.”