Southgate: ‘Players can’t wait to start campaign’

GARETH Southgate feels his England players are ready for action after a positive build-up to their World Cup opener.

Southgate’s squad trained for the final time at their Repino base yesterday before travelling to Volgograd to complete preparations for tonight’s Group G clash with Tunisia.

England have no injury issues going into the game with United forward Marcus Rashford having overcome a minor knee problem which prevented him training earlier in the week.

“They’re ready,” Southgate said on the England team’s YouTube channel. “If they played today they’d be ready.

“We’ve got to make sure they don’t do too much physically, don’t overload them with information.

“They’re clear on how we want to play, they’re clear on the opposition.”

England seemed in relaxed mood on the training field, with the players stopping for a moment to applaud midfielder Jordan Henderson on his 28th birthday.

Southgate has already told the group what this evening’s starting line-up will be.

“I think that’s helpful that everything’s settled,” he said. “They know their jobs. “The guys who aren’t in the team are prepared and have trained well. They become a key part of what we do now.

“They have to support the players who are starting, but also be ready because anything can happen before the game, anything can happen during the game.

“We only progress as a collective. That’s been the mentality from the day we started and will go right through the tournament.”

Southgate said his side wanted to show bravery in this tournament.

He said: “I think first and foremost I’m looking forward to watching the lads play because from the way they’ve trained and played in the two matches leading in, and the way they played in November and March, we seem to be improving all the time.

“The patterns of play are becoming more apparent and I like the movement and the way we are using the ball.

“Normally what you see on the training