Kaliningrad: England manager Gareth Southgate defended his decision to leave Harry Kane on the bench among eight changes after losing 0-1 to Belgium to finish runners-up in World Cup Group G. In spite of falling behind early on in the second half, Southgate did not put use tournament’s top scorer Harry Kane in the game.
“If we put Harry on for 10 minutes and someone whacks him on the ankles that would be ridiculous,” said Southgate when questioned on this issue by reporters. “Everybody knows the most important game is the knockout round.”
England haven’t won a knockout game at a tournament since 2006 and Southgate insisted he had to seek every possible advantage ahead of what he described as the Three Lions’ ‘biggest game for a decade’.
The game against Colombia will be England’s biggest in a decade. If we win the game, the decision to rest top players will be praised
Gareth Southgate
“We tried to take as much of an advantage as we could on a physical level. Whatever happens next week that was the right decision,” asserted Southgate.
“People will say ‘it’s only the right decision if we win’ but it’s the right decision because we’d be going into a match that could go into extra time and risking players we didn’t need to risk,” added the England coach.
Southgate is also confident that Thursday night’s loss will not stop the momentum gained from the opening two wins over Tunisia and Panama. “No, I don’t think (this stalls momentum). We talked about momentum but momentum shifts in games and I think we kept pressing right to the end. We knew what we were doing for this game,” pointed out Southgate.
It was a calculated risk, but we are not thinking about an easier or a better draw. Right now our focus is Japan, if we have advanced thinking we will be in trouble
Roberto Martinez
His Belgian counterpart Roberto Martinez admitted that it would have been easier for Belgium logistically to finish second in the group and play their last 16 tie in Moscow, close to their training base, rather than Monday in Rostov-on-Don.
However, the Spaniard warned against trying to plot a way through a perceived easier section of the draw. “I don’t think in World Cup you can try to hope to get an easy path,” said Martinez. “England will play Colombia and we will face Japan and if you start thinking any further than that, I think you are risking a lot.”
The fact second place in the group was no disaster seemed to be a big factor in both coaches’ team selection with their places in the last 16 already secured.
Martinez was all praise for his second XI who managed to beat England’s second XI. “The victory is a consequence of a very good performance. You cannot plan the ideal scenario, you’ve seen big nations already eliminated,” Martinez pointed out. “Those that may not play regularly showed they are ready to come on anytime. Many debutants were desperate to be involved and that pleases me,” he added.