SEEDS OF DOUBT
WORLD CUP Southgate worried how kids will handle pressure
GARETH SOUTHGATE is worried England’s lack of bigmatch experience could be the biggest danger to their World Cup chances.
Three Lions boss Southgate fears that England’s draw will bring its own pressures and the weight of expectation on young shoulders which can quickly go wrong.
Southgate will continue to put his faith in England’s youngsters but is worried about history repeating itself.
The likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jordan Pickford and Joe Gomez are all in with a chance of going to their first major tournament and Southgate has warned of the dangers of getting carried away with the draw.
England will face Tunisia, Panama and Belgium in Group G and are already fancied to get through to the knockout stages.
But the biggest worry in Southgate’s mind is a flashback to Euro 2016 when they were humiliated by Iceland.
England were also knocked out of the last World Cup in the group stage when Costa Rica were the surprise package and Southgate is desperate for that not to happen again.
Expectations
He said: “We don’t know what we’re capable of really. We feel it’s an exciting team, a team which is only going to get better.
“But we are a team which lack some experience in those bigpressure matches which is maybe why that happened against Iceland.
“We know in the last World Cup that Costa Rica won the group against everybody’s expectations, it’s not about your ranking but how you perform in the tournament and getting every aspect right.
“When you’re in the second pot of seeds, by nature you are going to play two teams who are seeded lower than you so you have to handle being second favourites in the group. That can be difficult as well.”
England do not play their first group game with Tunisia until June 18, five days after the tournament starts. It is the 14th match on the WorldW ld C Cup fi fixture t li list t and dS Southgate th t believes that could be a big help.
“There’s a bit of travelling but also some breaks and that could be good with injuries because then it gives them time to clear up,” said Southgate. “Kick- off times are decent for us as well now.”
Belgium will be a huge test but Southgate’s former England teammate Graeme Le Saux insists that, despite the lack of experience in the squad, they should have little to fear.
Le Saux said: “Hopefully by that point (against Belgium) we’ll have six points on the board and we can play with a bit more freedom.
“If we qualify with solid performances, f whoever h we meet t beyond that we should feel that we’re the favourites but it’s the next round that will pose potential problems.
Credit
“Any side that reaches the quarterfinal stage is there on merit and in all likelihood we would come up against one of the higher seeded teams. But it’s important to remember that we came away from the recent friendlies against Brazil and Germany with credit.
“Despite the lack of experience in the squad in those games, the clean sheets we achieved give us a good base to work from.” GARETH SOUTHGATE will ask senior players whether they want to put their holidays before the Three Lions. Southgate plans to canvas opinion at the next get-together in March which could see players jet off for a break before the tournament. The Premier League season finishes more than a month before England kick-off their World Cup campaign on June 18. Three Lions boss Southgate is planning two pre-World Cup friendlies but there will be a big gap as England are one of the last teams to play in Russia. The squad voluntarily gave up their passports before Euro 2016. Southgate will want the players fresh but it will be a test for them to put England before an end-of-season break.