SMALL OVER

Southgate ends World Cup hopes for defenders Smalling and Cahill

THE World Cup dream looks over for Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill after Gareth Southgate ditched them for England’s friendlies against Holland and Italy.

Cahill won the last of his 58 caps against Slovenia in October while Smalling has not played since the 2-2 draw against Scotland last June. And Southgate feels the young players who did well against Brazil and Germany in November deserve another chance.

The England boss also feels it is better to give first call-ups to James Tarkowski and Alfie Mawson.

“I was really pleased with how we defended in the games in November,” said Southgate. “John Stones, Joe Gomez and Harry Maguire took the bulk of that game-time and were outstanding.

“On top of that I have other players I wanted to have a look at in Tarkowski and Mawson, not just for now but for beyond the summer. It was a very difficult call because Gary played in a lot of our qualifying matches and is a player I have a lot of respect for.

“But I did not want to bring in senior players who are not going to play when I have others to look at.”

Southgate confirmed Smalling’s axing when he said that the only other players he was considering who are not in his 26-man squad were the injured Fabian Delph, Phil Jones, Harry Kane and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. “There are players not in this squad who are not out of our minds,” he said. “There are three in particular who, if they were playing, would probably be here – Delph, Phil Jones, and Ruben, along with Harry.”

Southgate, who has warned Joe Hart (above) that he will have to battle Jack Butland to be his No.1 in Russia, rewarded Burnley keeper Nick Pope with his first call-up.

“Clearly the No.1 jersey is up for grabs,” he said. “Joe’s had a difficult period for his club.

“But he’s got 74 caps, he’s an important member of the squad, and we wanted to keep him involved. We don’t know how the next eight to 10 weeks will pan out for all our goalkeepers and there is good competition for places.

“Nick’s form has been excellent. We need to find out more about him because, if we lose one of our senior keepers, we don’t want to be bringing in a new player.”

Southgate claims Jack Wilshere has earned a first call-up under him because he has re-established himself at Arsenal.

“Jack’s a player with unquestionable talent,” he said. “He’s now playing in the games that matter for Arsenal and he’s playing well.”