Brave to leave out captain

GARETH Southgate said it would be a ‘brave decision’ to leave Harry Kane out of his England starting line-up against the United States after confirming the striker had come through training with a clean bill of health.

Kane suffered a knock on his ankle in England’s 6-2 win against Iran on Monday but has returned to training without issue and Southgate suggested his captain will feature from the start on Friday.

“Harry’s good,” he said. “He came through training, no problems, so it would be a brave decision to leave him out of the starting team.” Southgate warned he expects a different level of opposition from the Americans after England enjoyed a relatively easy opener against Iran.

“I think tomorrow’s game will be very different to the first match,” added Southgate.

“They are a team that press the ball really well and who have, with respect, probably a level of player that has more experience of playing in top-level European leagues.

“In terms of tomorrow’s game, it’s not going to be the pattern of the previous one.”

Southgate insisted he would not be getting carried away following Monday’s convincing victory.

“We’re good at talking highly of ourselves as a nation and on the basis of very little evidence,” he added. “What we’ve got to do is perform on the field.

“We’ve got huge respect for our opponents.”