Belgium and England to rest players
Sadly for the fans, Belgium and England are ready to rest and rotate. In it for the long haul, they face a World Cup reality that could strip some of the flavour from a mouth-watering group decider between two Premier League-rich squads and two of the tournament’s high-scoring teams.
Both have already qualified for the last 16 — only the group winner needs to be decided — so Thursday’s Group G finale in Kaliningrad provides a rare chance in an unrelenting World Cup schedule to rest tired legs, recover from injuries, and avoid the risk of suspensions. Also, fringe squad members can get game time when the pressure is off in case they are needed unexpectedly when it really counts down the road. And so the big individual matchups that held so much intrigue a week ago may not materialise. So, possibly no Romelu Lukaku of Manchester United up against former Everton teammate John Stones, now with Manchester City. No midfield contest pitching Eden Hazard of Chelsea and Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City on Belgium’s side against Jordan Henderson of Liverpool and Jesse Lingard of Manchester United on England’s. And maybe no sign of the World Cup’s leading goalscorer, England captain Harry
BKane, taking on Tottenham club mate and Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen.
TOP SCORERS MISSING
If Kane and Lukaku don’t get on the field, two of the three top goal-scorers in Russia will be missing.
And that would be a shame for the fans.
But that’s the World Cup, where if you want to win the title, you need to get through seven games in a little over four weeks and win four of those games against the best in the space of 16 days at the business end.
Belgium has reasons other than fatigue to rotate its players.
Main striker Lukakau and play maker Hazard both picked up injuries in the 5-2 win against Tunisia, Martinez said, as did forward Dries Mertens. Although none of those injuries appear serious, they are obvious candidates to miss the England match to ensure that they are 100 per cent fit for the knockouts.
Also, influential midfielder De Bruyne and defenders Vertonghen and Thomas Meunier have one yellow card at the World Cup. Another against England would see them suspended for the first of the knockout games.