Kane and Maguire both fine, says boss

GARETH SOUTHGATE allayed fears that Harry Kane and Harry Maguire could be injury doubts for Friday’s game against the USA. Kane required lengthy treatment on an ankle problem following a hefty challenge before being substituted in the second half of the 6-2 win against Iran. He was seen limping out of the stadium with a protective light strapping. Southgate said: ‘I think Harry’s fine. It looked a bad tackle but he carried on and we took him off because we could do that.’ Maguire seemed to be suffering with a vision issue immediately after Iran’s first goal. The centre back appeared to be receiving treatment for concussion before he was replaced by Eric Dier, but Southgate said: ‘He felt ill. He flagged it just before the goal. Then, given the state of the game, there was no point in carrying on. Other than that I haven’t seen anything of concern.’ Southgate, who made all five substitutions, added: ‘It was good to be able to refresh the forward line, not only to get players on but also because there were some very close calls in who starts in those positions.

‘We have some fabulous talent and we had players that, if we needed them to change the game, they could do it. On days like that you would like to change more because every time you pick a team you have 11 that are happy and with the size of the squads now, 15 who could react.

‘But the reaction when I named the team and when I was working with the team was excellent. They supported each other.’