SOUTHGATE: ENGLAND DOOR OPEN FOR DEFOE
EX-CATS STAR REVEALS WHAT GARETH SOUTHGATE TOLD HIM ABOUT WORLD CUP CHANCES
Gareth Southgate has told former Sunderland hero Jermain Defoe that the door is still open for a spot in his World Cup squad.
In March 2017, Defoe’s sparkling Sunderland form saw Southgate hand him his first England appearance in over three years, with the striker scoring in a 2-0 win over Lithuania.
His progress since moving to Bournemouth has been hampered by injury, but he returned from the bench on Saturday to spark a two-goal comeback against Newcastle.
Defoe said: “I spoke to Gareth and he basically said: ‘The door is always open because you bring so much with your experience, around the place with the lads, you bring a lot to the camp’.
“So he just basically said ‘the door is open, just get yourself back in the team again’. This is before the injury. He said, ‘Get yourself back in the team, get your goals and you know the door is open’. It’s down to me, really. Well, down to Eddie!”
Harry Kane will lead the line for England in Russia, but Defoe has no doutbs that he will be able to make a significant impact if called upon. He said: “At a tournament, it’s always about the squad. “When you are not playing, you’ve always got to be switched on. “You’ve seen it in tournaments so many times, where players that have not even played come on and make an impact and make a difference in games, especially at a tournament when you go into extra-time and penalties and stuff like that.
“For me, it’s about the squad. I remember Gareth speaking saying about how he’s been to tournaments and kicked every ball and he’s been to tournaments and he hasn’t kicked one ball.
“It’s about being the right sort of character. I went to the World Cup in South Africa and I played. I went to the Euros with Roy Hodgson in 2012 and, I think, I only came on for about three minutes.
“But it’s important that you are not negative around the camp because, at the end of the day, it’s not about you, it’s about the team and it’s about achieving something as a group.
“If you don’t play and you win the World Cup, it’s special because you’re part of that, it’s history.
“If I went to the World Cup as an impact player, when we need a goal in extra-time, I’d always be ready, of course.”
Defoe has returned from an ankle fracture well ahead of schedule and, speaking at the North East Football Writers’ Association annual dinner, he saidhewasreadytorediscover that goalscoring feeling.
He said: “It’s been tough to be out. Mentally, I always try and approach things in a positive way. I’ve been lucky with injuries in the past but when I got the tackle I knew straight away that it was a bad injury.
“After the scans, I remember saying to the specialist, ‘how long?’, he said ‘eight to ten weeks’ and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll do that in six’. It was funny.
“They said I’d be training after 10 weeks, but it’s been seven, eight weeks and I’m playing. After five weeks, I was running outside. But I just did everything right.
“I was in the gym, I didn’t go on holiday, I didn’t want to waste any days.
“Even when I had the boot on, I was on the bike, I was in the gym. In training, I don’t feel like I’ve been away from it.
“I don’t feel like I am catching up with my sharpness, I feel fit because I’ve done so much work.
“In that sense, I’m happy but I just want to start playing now. I miss scoring goals.”