Gareth Southgate is looking forward to seeing new players in another high-level test as England continue to “build towards the summer” by hosting Belgium fresh from their defeat to Brazil.
Among the favourites to become continental champions in Germany, the Euro 2020 runners-up are third in FIFA’s world rankings and organised March friendlies against the two nations directly below them.
Five-time world champions Brazil sit fifth and on Saturday inflicted England’s first defeat since their World Cup quarter-final exit to France 15 months ago, with 17-year-old substitute Endrick sealing a late 1-0 triumph.
Southgate was pleased despite their 10-match unbeaten run ending as Euro 2024 comes into sight and is looking forward to another stern Wembley test against a Belgium side sat fourth in the world rankings.
“Belgium have played a different 11 probably, or close to, so they’re going to be a bit fresher,” the England boss said after the Red Devils drew 0-0 away to the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.
“But similar to (Brazil) we’re talking about a high-level game, brilliant experience for the players, a chance to see new players again, build towards the summer.
“I’m not disappointed with the level of performance. I know in the end when you lose the game then there will always be a negative reaction to losing.
“But my thought was, with 15 minutes to go given all the changes that we’d made, I thought the crowd was already with the team.
View this post on Instagram“They could see a lot of young players going in and doing well, a lot of very inexperienced players going in and doing well, so I’m not down on the performance of the team at all.”Put to Southgate in a separate interview with BBC Radio 5 Live that it must hurt that England lost their unbeaten run ahead of the Euros, he said: “Well, it does because we had an unbeaten year.
“But we deliberately took two really high-level games and of course we’ve had to put out a very different team to the one we might have envisaged.
“So, we’ve still learned an awful lot ahead of the summer that’s really important. You know, some of these boys are pushing for starting positions, some are pushing for places in the squad.
“You need to see them against that sort of level of opposition to see if they’re going to be able to excel in the summer.”
Southgate praised Anthony Gordon, Ezri Konsa and Kobbie Mainoo after their debuts against Brazil, with defender Jarrad Branthwaite hoping to follow suit by making his bow against Belgium.
One-cap Ivan Toney and James Maddison are sure to come in having been the only other two unused outfield players for the penultimate match before the England boss selects his provisional Euros squad.
Joe Gomez, Lewis Dunk, Jarrod Bowen and Marcus Rashford joined Konsa and Mainoo in coming off the bench against Brazil and also have something to prove ahead of Southgate’s selection.
Jordan Henderson and Cole Palmer also appear to be in contention after returning to training on the day of the Brazil match, but Kyle Walker is a major doubt after liming off early in Saturday’s friendly.
“We don’t know (the severity),” Southgate said of the Manchester City right-back. “He’s not had many injuries, so he himself isn’t sure whether it’s just tightness.
“I suspect if he’s feeling it, it’s a little bit more than that but we’ll know a bit more over the next 24, 36 hours.”
Walker would follow Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka in withdrawing from an absentee-hit final camp before the Euros, when Phil Foden has been tipped to star.
Pep Guardiola believes the Manchester City midfielder is the best player in the Premier League right now, but the 23-year-old has yet to fully flourish in an England shirt and Saturday was no different.
“I think at moments we saw that (quality shown at City),” Southgate said. “We’ve several players missing, so some of the combinations are different, some of the interplay is different.
“I thought him and Jude (Bellingham) at times in the first half combined well.
“But, again, he’s also playing against a high-level side. We’re not dominating 75 per cent of the ball, which at times is the case with his club.
“It’s a different sort of a challenge, but I wasn’t unhappy with Phil’s performance.”
LA Galaxy test not ‘David against Goliath’ for Minnesota, claims Ramsay
Minnesota United head coach Eric Ramsay believes this season has already been a success for his side, no matter the result of their Western Conference semi-final against the LA Galaxy.
The Loons are the lowest-ranked side left on the West side of the MLS playoff bracket after finishing sixth in the regular season, though have impressed in the postseason so far.
They edged Real Salt Lake in their best-of-three series, winning both games on penalties, though come into their encounter with the Galaxy as the underdogs from the outside.
However, Ramsay does not see it that way, believing that his players could cause an upset this weekend.
“There is, of course, a level of satisfaction, but I think it’s difficult to do that until you know how everything pans out,” Ramsay said. “I’ve tried not to think too much beyond the upcoming game and sort of take the balance of the season as a whole once that’s done.
“But I don’t think anyone can deny that relative to the circumstances and the expectations that we’ve had a really good year and sort of anything from this point onwards set against what was talked about prior to the season would, of course, be a bonus.”
“That’s not to say that I don’t feel nor expect us to go another step beyond because, if I look at our form at the moment, I do feel we’re a good match up for anyone in the league.
“There’s absolutely no way that we’re going into this game feeling as though it’s David against Goliath, and we’re huge underdogs, and you’ve got a 20% chance of winning the game. That’s just not how we look at it. So I’m trying to, again, balance those two perspectives.”
LA Galaxy, meanwhile, swept aside the Colorado Rapids in their best-of-three series, helped by the influential Gabriel Pec, who has starred in his first season in the MLS.
The Brazilian has 37 goals involvements (19 goals, 18 assists) so far this season, with his 61 chances created, a total only bettered by Riqui Puig (63) this campaign.
And Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney is confident he can help lead his team all the way to glory this term after seeing first-hand the improvements he has made.
“I’ve seen the evolution on the field,” he said. “When he first came there was a lot of stress. You could tell he came from a club [where] winning and losing and producing were heavy.
“I saw a player who had unique talents and then inside of that some really, really great talent that needs to come out.”
“When we watched video of him, the interesting thing was when he was scoring goals, he was constantly ending up inside the box. So the question was ‘how do we get this guy inside the box more often?’
“What’s been great about him is he’s just had a lot of open-mindedness to develop different parts of his game.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
LA Galaxy – Riqui Puig
Puig has also been in fine form for the Galaxy, registering 14 goal involvements (eight goals, six assists) in his last eight games for the club in all competitions.
He scored twice in each of the Galaxy’s two wins over Colorado in the first round, the fourth player in MLS history, and third for the Galaxy, to score multiple goals in consecutive matches in a single postseason, something no player has done in three straight playoff matches.
Minnesota United – Kelvin Yeboah
Yeboah has been one of the standout players in the MLS since joining Minnesota from Serie A side Genoa in July, and he will be looking to continue that form this weekend.
He set up Joseph Rosales for the Loons’ only goal in their first round series against Real Salt Lake. Yeboah (five goals, two assists) has been involved in seven of Minnesota’s last 12 goals (excluding own goals) dating back to mid-September.
MATCH PREDICTION: LA GALAXY WIN
This will be the second postseason meeting between the Galaxy and Minnesota after LA knocked the Loons out in Minnesota in the first round in 2019. The Galaxy have also lost only one of their seven all-time home matches against Minnesota (W4 D2).
The Galaxy scored nine times in their two first-round matches against Colorado, equalling the most goals scored in a span of two playoff matches in MLS history. No team has scored more than 12 goals in a span of three matches in a single postseason before (Toronto in 2016, San Jose Earthquakes in 2003).
Minnesota won on penalties in both matches against Real Salt Lake in the first round, becoming the fourth team in MLS history to win multiple penalty shoot-outs in a single postseason (Real Salt Lake 2009, New York City FC 2021, Seattle Sounds 2024). No team has won three shoot-outs in a single postseason.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
LA Galaxy – 50.8%
Draw – 24.9%
Minnesota United – 24.2%
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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