PARANOID ENGLAND WORK ON DEFENCE
ENGLAND’S training ahead of their World Cup opener has been hidden behind a 14ft barrier – to keep manager Gareth Southgate’s tactics secret.
FA chiefs had the 12ft internal fence at their base near Repino raised to 14ft and added thick green panels to deter spies before Monday’s Group G game against Tunisia.
Security cameras were already positioned all along the 6ft 7in perimeter fence.
An FA source said: “The internal fence was see-through before so we have thickened it. Now it is impossible to see anything.”
England’s players will have their last session in Repino tomorrow before flying 1,000 miles south for the match in Volgograd.
After another workout in the 45,568-seater Volgograd Arena, Southgate will pick his team and speak to the press.
The players will also get a chance to Facetime loved ones tomorrow to celebrate Father’s Day. Captain Harry Kane, 24, will have a moraleboosting call with heavily pregnant fiancee Katie Goodland, while Phil Jones, 26, will be getting in touch with his wife Kaya, who welcomed their baby daughter Alaria just before he left for Russia.
He said of fatherhood: “It just gives you a different purpose in life.”
Fabian Delph,
28, has permission to fly home if wife
Natalie goes into labour as she is due to give birth on June
30.
The 29C temperature forecast will favour
Tunisia, the highestranked team in Africa.
■ Saudi Arabia’s players face “punishment” after losing 5-0 to hosts Russia, their federation boss Adel Ezzat warned.