Southgate risks wrath of Mourinho
hengland manager weighs up game time across three fixtures hcaptain keen to bolster goals tally in World Cup qualifiers
Gareth Southgate is facing a dilemma over whether to risk the wrath of Jose Mourinho, the Tottenham Hotspur head coach, by playing captain Harry Kane in all three of England’s World Cup qualifiers, with the striker keen to keep chasing down Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring record.
England face San Marino, Albania and Poland in seven days and, fitness permitting, Kane wants to play in all three games to help his country make the best possible start to their campaign and increase his own goals tally.
Kane did not score in his six games for England in 2020, with his last international goal coming against Kosovo in November 2019.
The 27-year-old is sixth on the list of all-time leading England goalscorers with 32, which is 21 short of Rooney’s record he is desperate to break. This international break offers Kane the chance to significantly close the gap on Rooney, with England facing two teams they will expect to score plenty of goals against in San Marino and Albania.
The visit of Poland could also provide a fascinating head-to-head between Kane and Robert Lewandowski, currently rated the best outand-out striker in world football.
Southgate, though, will be aware that playing Kane in all three games could upset Mourinho, who needs Tottenham’s star player to be fully fit for the Premier League run-in and next month’s Carabao Cup final.
Kane played in two games of England’s last triple header in November, as he did in October, but both of the matches he missed during those sequences were friendlies. All of England’s three fixtures this time are World Cup qualifiers.
Albania would appear to be the most likely game in which Southgate could rest his captain but, as long as he is fit, Kane will almost certainly tell the manager he is ready to play in all three if asked.
Speaking on the subject last week, Southgate said: “In these three-game windows we want play
ers in the best condition to perform, not only in game one, but game three. We’ve got to manage the load in training, and matches and we try to do that.
“We had eight games in the autumn and I don’t think anyone started more than six. We played a couple of players more than we would have liked to in November, but we are talking about 20 minutes here and there. We’ve got to win matches and we’ve got three World Cup qualifiers. The managers understand that, and I have empathy with them. We will do all we can to manage all the players.” Kane has started all Spurs’ past seven games, in the Premier League and Europa League, and has not been given a rest by Mourinho since
Feb 24, when he sat out the victory over Wolfsberger.
Ahead of the international break, Mourinho said: “I cannot do Gareth’s work, the same way Gareth is not trying to do my work. He doesn’t make any comments about my selection, he doesn’t give any public opinion. He does what he thinks is best for the team.
“I believe that he has a good relationship with Harry. Good relations normally mean good communication, and I hope that happens between them without me being in the middle saying something. I hope that, between them, they can find some compromise to protect the player.”