The match takes place at Wolverhampton’s Molineux on Saturday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
Due to the crowd disturbance that saw England fans fight with police and break into the EURO 2020 Final at Wembley Stadium, which Italy won on penalties, it is technically behind closed doors.
In any case, the crowd will be around 2,000 people, the majority of them will be children under the age of 14, with some parents accompanying them.
“If it’s an embarrassment, it’s for England as a country,” the manager remarked in a press conference, “because I’m not sure how many of the people who caused the difficulties were football fans.”
“Because we spoke about it so much, I feel compelled to add that the vast majority of our supporters that traveled to Germany behaved admirably, so a big thank you to them, because perhaps many were anticipating something else.”
This was despite the fact that seven England fans were arrested in Germany prior to the game for making Nazi salutes, insulting and assaulting local police, and engaging in “alcohol-fueled anti-social behavior.”
Manchester City‘s talent has been confirmed by Southgate. Due to injuries, Phil Foden and Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Philips are serious concerns.
“We’re still evaluating both, and Phil started training this morning.” He’s improving, but not rapidly, and it’s still unclear whether he’ll be able to participate in either game.
“We have to consider some aspects we want to see, such as the team’s freshness, and this is a nice game for some of the other players to enter.” Because this is a high-level game, it’s a positive sign to put your faith in the participants. We don’t learn enough about players if we only give them one type of match, and they don’t learn about tactical obstacles.
“It’s a delicate balance since we need to win games while also learning about the athletes and providing them with positive experiences.” We could get 90 minutes out of any member of the squad tomorrow; whether we do so is a different story, but all of the players are in good physical shape.
