Southgate ‘hopeful’ Kane can start vs Denmark
Gareth Southgate believes Harry Kane will be fit enough to start for England against Denmark on Wednesday, and that the medical staff have been in constant consultation with Tottenham Hotspur about his condition.
The striker’s selection had been a point of controversy in the build-up to these fixtures, with Jose Mourinho expressing his thoughts. Kane came off the bench in the 2-1 win over Belgium, having missed the 3-0 win over Wales, but Southgate said that was only because he needed a bit of “confidence” in his condition.
“Well, medically, there’s been conversations, because that would always be the case,” Southgate said.
“He started to train on the Wednesday, was a little unhappy with how he felt, so then worked with our medical team the next couple of days, we scanned just to be certain but it’s a muscular fatigue issue rather than an injury, so it just needed a bit more confidence.
“He knew by then he could push on a little bit, but he just needed a bit more confidence in it, and so his training week really wasn’t suitable to start the game.
“I think he’ll have gained more confidence from the spell he had tonight, and so all being well, we hope he’ll be good to start on Wednesday.”
Southgate meanwhile praised the performance of Harry Maguire in the win over Belgium. The centre-half has come under criticism of late, amid a drop-off in form after his controversy in Greece, but showed resolve against a stellar Belgian attack.
“You’re asked so many questions with the movement and the quality of the play around. I think our back players in the first-half, we didn’t have the structure quite right in front and the quality of defenders individually is one thing but if they are not protected and the structure is not right then, against the very best teams, it’s going to be a problem. I think both things combined. But he’s a top player, we have tremendous faith [in him], it was great to have him back in the fold and I think he’ll take a lot of confidence from tonight’s performance.”