Coach Southgate rubbishes club-versus-country talk
STRIKER KANE PULLED OUT OF ENGLAND’S SQUAD TO FACE GERMANY
ngland manager Gareth Southgate has dismissed talk of a club-versus-country row following Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane’s withdrawal from his squad.
Kane, the Premier League’s joint-top scorer, pulled out of England’s squad to face Germany and Brazil in friendlies after sustaining a knock in Spurs’ 1-0 win over Crystal Palace last weekend.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino subsequently said he expected Kane to be fit to face Arsenal on November 18, but Southgate dismissed suggestions the striker had put his club before his country.
“I knew Harry Kane was in trouble (against Palace) because he stayed down. Harry Kane doesn’t stay down,” Southgate told a press conference at England’s St George’s Park training base in Burton-on-Trent yesterday.
“Both him and Harry Winks were scanned. Our medical department reviewed both scans and no way they were available for our two games. Spurs might risk them for the game with Arsenal, but it’s a different matter.
“I’m hearing this talk of club v country and it’s a nonsense. The players are injured and cannot play.”
Southgate’s preparations for today’s friendly against Germany at Wembley have been disrupted by a raft of withdrawals.
Life bans
In addition to Kane and Winks, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Fabian Delph have also pulled out of the squad.
Southgate has called up Everton defender Michael Keane, uncapped Burnley midfielder Jack Cork and West Bromwich Albion’s Jake Livermore as cover. Germany’s World Cup-winner Mario Goetze hopes to use today’s friendly against England at Wembley to kick-start his international career after a year on the sidelines.
The 25-year-old wrote himself into German footballing folklore by volleying home the winning goal in extra time for a 1-0 victory over Argentina in the 2014 final.
Goetze had broken into the national team as a 19-year-old when he scored his first international goal in a friendly win at home to Brazil in 2011. Since his magic moment at the Maracana in 2014, Goetze has struggled with injury and a debilitating metabolic disorder, which sidelined him for seven months this year.
Having last played for Germany in November 2016, Goetze has earned a recall with a string of good performances for Borussia Dortmund.
Even though Dortmund has dropped 11 points in their last four Bundesliga games, Goetze has consistently been one of their best players.
England’s last game against Germany, a 1-0 friendly defeat in Dortmund in March, was marred by a small number of England fans who booed the German anthem and sang songs about the Second World War.
England’s Football Association subsequently handed out its first life bans to two supporters who were found to have performed Nazi gestures.
Southgate urged England’s supporters to be on their best behaviour and praised Germany’s decision to join England in wearing poppy armbands to coincide with Britain’s Armistice Day commemorations.
“I think it was unacceptable, completely unacceptable,” Southgate said of the scenes in Dortmund.
“We have a huge percentage of fans who follow us brilliantly. We experienced that in Lithuania (in England’s last World Cup qualifying match) when we went over to the supporters at the end of the game.
“Things that were shouted that night were totally unacceptable. We’ve moved on from those times. They don’t represent us as a team, the people who do that.
“But we’re talking about individuals. The mass majority of supporters are brilliant. To add to that, Germany have taken a huge step in agreeing to wear the poppy in this fixture, so that should also be noted. “We appreciate that they’re doing.”