England vs Czech Republic LIVE: Live updates of Group D clash – Grealish starts, no Sancho | Football | Sport
[ad_1]
Euro 2020: England and Scotland set for final group games
England vs Czech Republic LIVE
- England already through to last 16 of Euro 2020 after Denmark win
- Three Lions need to beat Czech Republic to go through as Group D winners
- Gareth Southgate starts Jack Grealish – but Jadon Sancho left on the bench
- England make four changes from side the drew with Scotland
- Match kicks off at Wembley at 8pm
7.40pm: Some more from Southgate earlier, this time on Harry Maguire, who returns to the team at centre-back tonight.
“I think he has been the outstanding English defender in the league this season,” the England boss said.
“He has been such a bedrock for us. It was a difficult call because Tyrone [Mings] has been a colossus for us but it is a good opportunity for Harry to get 90 minutes.”
That first line a bit harsh on Manchester City’s Stones alongside him, no? It was him over Maguire in the PFA Team of the Year, as voted for by the players, after all.
7.35pm: Those in the comments don’t seem overly confident about tonight’s match against the Group D leaders…
GeoffDavies says: “Got thru by luck because of other teams result.next stage first out as usual no surprise.”
NeilM1965 writes: “Gareth Southgates naturally defensive – 10-0 formation. Big time Charlie’s in qualifying and always bottlers in tournaments.”
Bigzap posts: “If they play like they did against Scotland, then they have no chance of winning…”
7.30pm: Ian Wright chimes in on the same debate, calling it “baffling” that Scotland have no players isolating given they shared a dressing room with Covid absentee Gilmour.
He says: “To be able to take the hit of Mason Mount and Chilwell to not be able to play for baffling reasons, this squad can take that hit.
“We don’t want to, but we’re going to have to take that hit. Who’s coming in, in this game in particular, I think it’ okay. They’ll cope.
“It is baffling, but it is something that’s happened. I don’t want to wish anything on the Scotland players, don’t get me wrong, but the fact is it is absolutely crazy, I’d love to see the reasoning behind it.”
England vs Czech Republic LIVE (Image: BBC )
7.20pm: Classic hard-nosed Roy Keane on ITV’s coverage, discussing the absences of Mount and Chilwell. While many sympathise with the duo, Keane is very much pointing the finger at the Chelsea pair for chatting with Scotland’s Gilmour.
The Manchester United legend says: “I think the only thing I’d be critical of is why would you want to speak to an opposition player, I don’t care if he’s your team-mate or not, for over 20 minutes.
“I very rarely speak to anybody for over five minutes. At the game, when you’ve been at war with somebody, why would you want to speak to anybody for that long? They could have used more common sense.”
He won’t be happy if Rice, Soucek and Coufal catch up at full-time then…
7.10pm: Southgate speaks. He says to ITV…
On Mount and Chilwell: “They’re hugely disappointed to miss the games. We’ve just had to get on with it. It’s a bizarre situation really. They’ve spent 120 seconds too long in a fairly open space. It’s full of contradictions for me.
“Frankly I don’t understand it at all. There are teams travelling round by plane, by bus, by coach for hours. I really don’t get it. I said yesterday I’ve no issue for Scotland, I don’t want them to have more than we’ve had, but it seems a bizarre situation.”
On leaving out Foden: “Because he’s on a yellow card. We look like we’ll miss two for the next game. I don’t want to take a risk on a third. It’s a shame for Phil but I think it’s a sensible decision.”
Southgate also appears to rule out Chilwell and Mount from England’s last 16 match, insisting it will be very difficult for them to play due to the team’s training schedule.
England vs Czech Republic LIVE (Image: GETTY)
7.05pm: So why is Borussia Dortmund winger and Manchester United transfer target Sancho still not starting? The former England international Andros Townsend, in his Euro 2020 column for the Daily Mirror, thinks he knows why.
“Reading between the lines I don’t think Jadon Sancho has impressed Gareth Southgate in training,” Townsend said in his latest piece.
“Gareth has had the privilege of watching each player train over the past three weeks going back to the beginning of June. He is in a far better position than you or me to judge who deserves to be in the team, who should be on the bench and who should be in the stands.
“It tells me either Jadon hasn’t been training well or the other wingers have been training slightly better. A manager won’t want to throw his player under the bus so he will be discreet about the reasons why. But Gareth will want Jadon to show him more if he is to make an appearance at these Euros.”
Should the wide-man get some minutes off the bench tonight?
7pm: So then, Czech Republic are unchanged. The West Ham duo of Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal both start at midfield and at right-back respectively.
Joint tournament top goalscorer Patrik Schick, who is tied with Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Gini Wijnaldum on three goals, leads the line.
6.55pm: And the Czech Republic starting eleven…
Czech Republic XI: Vaclik, Coufal, Celustka, Kalas, Boril, Holes, Soucek, Masopust, Darida, Jankto, Schick
Czech Republic bench: Koubek, Mandous, Kaderabek, Brabec, Barak, Krmencik, Sevcik, Hlozek, Vydra, Kral, Mateju, Pekhart
6.50pm: The big talking point from that is that Sancho again remains on the bench, and that Foden is not in the squad whatsoever.
We’ll hear more about whether the Manchester City man has picked up an injury when Southgate speaks to the broadcasters pre-match.
Happy with that line-up? Any decisions you’d have made differently? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet us @DExpress_Sport.
England vs Czech Republic LIVE (Image: GETTY)
6.30pm: And the England team is officially in…
England XI: Pickford; Walker, Maguire, Stones, Shaw; Phillips, Rice, Grealish; Saka, Kane, Sterling
England bench: Johnstone, Ramsdale, Mings, White, Coady, James, Trippier, Bellingham, Henderson, Sancho, Rashford, Calvert-Lewin
That means it’s actually four changes from the Scotland draw, with Mings, James, Mount and Foden dropping out for Maguire, Walker, Grealish and Saka.
Arsenal’s versatile attacker Saka starts out wide and will hope to inject some more energy and dynamism than was on show from his team-mates last Friday night.
With Mount and Chilwell unavailable, the only player to miss out on the 23 from the 26-man squad is Foden, who is presumably just being rested.
6.20pm: Earlier ‘leaked’ team news suggested that England boss Gareth Southgate will stick with Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling either side of goalless frontman Harry Kane.
But it’s thought Jack Grealish is also primed to start while Harry Maguire could displace Tyrone Mings at centre-back.
Jadon Sancho will start on the substitutes’ bench having yet to play a single minute of the tournament until now.
Chilwell has yet to feature at the Euros and Southgate has Luke Shaw, Kieran Trippier and even Bukayo Saka as options in that position.
The full confirmed line-ups are expected shortly – and we’ll see how many changes Southgate makes from the Scotland draw.
England vs Czech Republic LIVE (Image: GETTY)
6.10pm: England will be without Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell this evening with the Chelsea pair in isolation.
The duo were in close contact with Scotland’s Billy Gilmour after Friday night’s game with the midfielder since testing positive for coronavirus.
They will isolate for 10 days, meaning they might also be unavailable for next week’s last 16 tie.
The FA confirmed on Tuesday morning: “Chilwell and Mount will isolate and train individually in private areas at England’s training base St George’s Park, with the rest of the squad returning there after tonight’s fixture against Czech Republic at Wembley.
“We will continue to follow all Covid-19 protocols and the UEFA testing regime, while remaining in close contact with PHE.
“The entire England squad and staff had lateral flow tests on Monday and all were again negative, as was the case with Sunday’s UEFA pre-match PCR tests. Further tests will be carried out as and when appropriate.”
6pm: Good evening and welcome to Express Sport’s live coverage of England’s final Euro 2020 Group D match against Czech Republic at Wembley.
Having beaten Croatia but drawn with Scotland, Gareth Southgate’s side are already into the knockout stages of the Euros.
The four best third-placed teams from the six groups make it through to the last 16 and Ukraine and Finland finished third in their groups on Monday night on three points apiece.
That means even if England finish third tonight, which they will if they lose and Scotland win, they will still progress.
Tonight’s opponents Czech Republic beat Scotland and drew with Croatia but are above England thanks to their superior goal difference.
[ad_2]
Source link
