Kane causing Southgate concern as plastic pitch prompts injury fears
Captain may be kept on bench to guard against ankle problems Phillips latest to join casualty list and withdraw from squad
Gareth Southgate, the England manager, will be forced to factor in Andorra’s plastic pitch when he selects his team for the latest World Cup qualifier, with Harry Kane’s ankles a main area of concern.
Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips became the latest player, following the withdrawal of Reece James, to pull out of Southgate’s squad for the Andorra and Hungary qualifiers through injury, and he has been replaced by Southampton’s James Ward-prowse.
Andorra host England on their controversial artificial pitch on Saturday, a surface that Wales captain Gareth Bale once described as the worst he had ever played on.
Work has been done on the surface since 2014, when Bale made his comment and Aaron Ramsey suffered an ankle injury, but it remains a cause for concern.
While the pitch is thought to be less than ideal for the entire England squad, sources believe Kane’s fitness will be of primary concern given his record of suffering ankle injuries.
Tottenham have a synthetic pitch
their state-of-the-art training ground, but it is never used by the first team and Kane and his teammates have no experience of playing on artificial surfaces. England Under-21s played on Andorra’s plastic pitch last year and drew 3-3, and Southgate’s senior team will train on the surface on Friday, 24 hours before their World Cup qualifier.
With England guaranteed to win, Southgate’s primary concern, and that of Premier League clubs, will be the fitness of his players, which could impact his team selection.
Rafael Benitez, the Everton manager, has already asked that goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who has
recently returned from injury, is not made to play against Andorra. Aaron Ramsdale is one of Southgate’s goalkeepers and he played for the Under-21s on the pitch last year.
Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount returned from injury at the weekend to face Southampton, while Phil Foden has been out until recently.
Southgate will not want to take any risks over Kane, who has suffered a number of ankle injuries in his career, despite the fact the England captain will be keen to play.
Kane was rested for last month’s home game against Andorra, in which Patrick Bamford started, but was introduced as a second-half substitute and got on the scoresheet.
Chasing the England goalscoring record, Kane will know that facing Andorra would give him a great chance of boosting his tally, but he may once again have to hope to get an opportunity from the bench.
The captain, and the other players that Southgate may have fitness worries over, due to Andorra’s pitch could be saved to start England’s more difficult qualifier, against Hungary at Wembley next Tuesday.
Other than Kane, Southgate has Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Tammy Abraham, who was called into the squad on Monday, to choose from as his main striker. Watkins missed the start of the season with a knee injury, but has started Villa’s past four Premier League games and scored his first goal of the campaign against Tottenham on Sunday.
Abraham has been in excellent form at Roma, where he moved from Chelsea in the summer, and is hoping to add to his six caps.
Ramsey, the former Arsenal midfielder, said after suffering an ankle injury on Andorra’s pitch seven years ago: “I hope that’s the last time I play on a plastic pitch. The pitch was very hard, there was no give in it and I rolled my ankle a little bit.”
Bale, who played alongside Kane on loan at Tottenham last season, said: “It was by far the worst pitch I have ever played on. I can’t describe how bad, bobbly and hard the pitch was to deal with.”
Benitez described England’s trip to Andorra as a “nothing” game when discussing the fitness of Pickford, who had been out with a shoulder problem. Benitez said: “He is fit to play for us and he is fit to play for England. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but some of the games are nothing games and so I think it is easy to manage. Of the two games that they have, I would say for one of them they can manage.”