World Cup 2018: England team to play Tunisia has been DECIDED, admits Gareth Southgate
GARETH SOUTHGATE knows the England team he wants to play against Tunisia at the World Cup.
Posted Friday, May 18, 2018 by Dailystar.co.uk
England: Gareth Southgate says he knows his first World Cup team
England kick-off their campaign on June 18 before subsequent group games against Panama and Belgium.
Southgate named his 23-man squad for the tournament yesterday.
And he claims to already have decided on his starting line up for the Tunisia clash - despite his side having two warm-up matches and a month's worth of training before their opener in Russia.
"Yeah, I think we know what the team would be,” he said. “Whether all those runners and riders get to the start line is another matter...
"It normally doesn't happen, so we've got two good games in the lead in, with Nigeria at Wembley and Costa Rica up at Leeds.
"We're looking forward to taking the team on the road and they're a good opportunity for us to improve again and keep working at the things we worked on in November and Mach and keep that momentum going forwards.”
Southgate admitted he had an awkward chat with Gary Cahill about his place in the squad.
Liverpool’s Joe Gomez would have taken the Chelsea captain’s spot bar an injury ending his season early.
Gareth Southgate was quizzed on his England squad today
"I'd left Gary Cahill out of the squad in March and I had a little bet with myself that if I called he wouldn't pick up,” Southgate added.
"He didn't pick up at first and then I left him a message saying, ‘Look, I don't only call when it's bad news!’ So that was nice when he rang back.
"Look, he's got himself back in the team at Chelsea and has performed well.
"He looks happier in himself and happier in his game, so that was nice to be able to at least let him know that the reason for the call was a good one.”
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