Southgate’s off to touch base with Russians

GARETH SOUTHGATE admits he is heading into the unknown later this week – by flying to Russia for the first time.

The England boss is on a World Cup reconnaissance mission to size up training bases, venues and potential opponents for next summer.

There will also be a trip to the Confederations Cup after urging on Aidy Boothroyd’s young stars at the start of the European Under-21 Championship in Poland.

And he admits the trip will be an eye-opener because Russia has so far remained a mystery to him in all his days as a player or manager. “It’ll be a first for me because I have never ever been to Russia,” admitted Southgate.

Impressed

them live as well is always better, if you can. We’re seeing Portugal, Chile, Germany – so it is worth going.

“We’ll look at potential base camps too. We’ve already got a few highlighted, but you cannot secure anything until the draw.

“We’ve already had people out here, months ago, but it does give me an opportunity.

“The most important thing, though, is we’ve still got to get the qualification right and make sure we see it through to the finals.”

Although Southgate will watch Boothroyd’s stars in Poland, he has warned that stepping up to the senior side for next summer’s World Cup could be too big a leap.

“I’m sure there will always be someone that can emerge from that group. Equally, they are not going to have that big-game experience,” said Southgate.

“They will have tournament experience, but not big-game experience – the likes of Spain, Germany and France that we’ve played. So, this is a huge challenge.

“I go back to what I said in March and the reality of where we are and have been a little while.

Threat