England eye quarter-finals
Portugal in Russia
LONDON, June 9, (Agencies): England’s Football Association has set manager Gareth Southgate a target of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in Russia “as a real sign of progress” even though they have not won a knockout game at the tournament for 12 years.
“What we want is, and I’m not going to give you a stage in the tournament ... but, I’m going to give it away slightly, we haven’t won a knockout game since 2006,” the FA’s chief executive Martin Glenn told the Daily Telegraph.
“So, clearly, getting out of the group and winning a knockout game would be a real sign of progress. And if you win one, you win more.”
England are in Group G with much-fancied Belgium, Panama and Tunisia.
The 1966 World Cup winners failed to get out of the group in 2014, when they were defeated by Italy and Uruguay, and lost 4-1 to Germany in the round of 16 in 2010.
They last won a knockout tie in 2006, against Ecuador, when they reached the quarter-finals.
Should England qualify from their group they will face either Poland, Senegal, Colombia or Japan from Group H.
Southgate
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal arrived Saturday in Russia to begin final preparations for a World Cup campaign that pits them against arch-rivals Spain.
The European champions play their Iberian neighbours in the 2014 Winter Olympics host city Sochi in the opening match for both nations Friday.
The winner will be in pole position to come out on top in a Group B that also includes Morocco and Iran.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the last 16.
The Spaniards arrived at their own base in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar on Thursday.
Morocco have put Frenchborn defender Oualid El Hajjam on standby as a potential injury replacement for the World Cup as right back Nabil Dirar continues to battle with a calf problem on the eve of the finals, officials said on Saturday.
Dirar has been ruled out of Morocco’s final warm-up against Estonia in Tallinn on Saturday, meaning he has now missed all three friendlies played by the north Africans over the last fortnight before heading to Russia, where they have testing assignments in Group B against Iran, Portugal and Spain.
Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr has accused some reporters covering his team of unethical behaviour and coming up with lies in the build-up to their participation in the World Cup in Russia.
Rohr’s latest comments come as the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) attempted to quell a storm caused by an interview the coach granted the German newspaper Die Welt on Thursday.
“I have the utmost respect for Nigerian journalists, with whom I have had a warm relationship over the past two years that I have been in charge of this wonderful team,” Rohr told the federation’s website (thenff.com).
Dedryck Boyata said he is ready to step in for Vincent Kompany if Belgium’s battlehardened defender fails to recover from his groin injury in time for their opening World Cup Group G game against Panama in Sochi on June 18.
Kompany, 32, was injured in a pre-tournament friendly against Portugal and did not train along with the rest of the team on Saturday.