Southgate is wary of plotting a route ahead
Gareth Southgate believes it would be “dangerous territory” for England to plot a favourable World Cup path, especially having seen their last major tournament end in humiliation against unfancied Iceland.
The Three Lions sealed progress to the last 16 with a match to spare after following up their last-gasp 2-1 win against Tunisia by annihilating Panama 6-1 in Nizhny Novgorod. Belgium also qualified as a result of England’s win on Sunday, leaving Group G finely poised ahead of the pair’s meeting in Kaliningrad on Thursday.
Level on points, goal difference and goals scored, fair play may end up deciding who finishes top – a position Belgium are said to be keen to avoid.
The runners-up could well find a simpler route to the latter stages of the World Cup - but Southgate is wary of adopting that mentality with the Euro 2016 embarrassment against Iceland fresh in his mind.
“For our country, that would be a very difficult mindset to have,” the England boss said.
“We want to win every game of football we go into. I don’t know how we would go into a game not wanting to win and not wanting to play well.
“So, I think that’s dangerous territory ... if we start trying to plot and predict where we might end up. We had a really favourable draw, we all thought, in the last tournament and it didn’t work out that way.
“I think we just have to keep playing as well as we can, keep preparing the team the right way, keep the momentum and I have to keep the squad involved. That’s the one thing I think is really important.”
Roy Hodgson failed to strike the balance between momentum and rotation two years ago in France, where his much-changed side stuttered to a goalless draw against
Slovakia and ended their group in second.
Southgate would love to head into the knockout phase with a 100 per cent record but keeping the squad happy and energy levels up will also be key against Belgium.
He continued: “We have to consider everything. I felt it was important for (Jamie) Vardy, (Fabian) Delph and (Danny) Rose, who have trained so well and been such an important part of the group as more senior players.
“There were four or five others I’d have liked to get on the pitch for that same reason. Balancing that with a couple of the younger ones was a difficult decision.
“I’ve got to think through all of those things, competition for places, players who need match minutes and keeping the unity of the squad.”
Southgate will need to decide whether Dele Alli is worth risking after missing the Panama win with a slight thigh strain and whether he should rest star striker Harry Kane.