With a series of important embezzlements, England’s crumbling selection opens its preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia with two big tests. The first of them will be this Friday, November 10. At the Wembley Stadium in London, they will face Germany, the current world champion and the only European team to win 100% in qualifying.
England’s recent performance
The second test of the English will be on 14 next to the Brazilian team, the first to qualify for the World Cup through qualifying. The double round could be a major headache for coach Gary Southgate, who despite leading the English Team to the World Cup, has been heavily criticized.
The negative comments were made despite England having remained unbeaten throughout the ten rounds of the qualifiers of the Old Continent. He was Group F champion by reaching 26 (eight wins and two draws) of the 30 points played.
However, the overly defensive and side-ball style of play was not enough to excite the English. The squad scored just 18 goals in a group that featured the fragile Lithuania and Malta.
That has been the main reason why Southgate, who was placed as interim coach and put on the job after Sam Allardice’s dismissal after just one round of the qualifiers, has become a target for critics.
In making friendlies against two world champions, the coach certainly wanted to show that in front of high-level rivals his system could work. The shot, however, can backfire in the face of many injury problems recorded on the eve of the games.
They involve some players who are key players in Southgate strategy. Chief among them are striker Harry Kane of Tottenham, who scored eight goals in ten Premier League matches and four goals in his last four matches. He suffered a concussion that took him from the field in the second half of the match against Crystal Palace on Sunday, November 5, by the Premier League.
It was not the only loss in the London side’s 1-0 win. Midfielder Winks, who came out at the end of the first half, also hurt and is out of the friendly. He increased a list of exonerated contenders who already had Delle Alli, Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and Jordan Henderson.
Those of the ones called up initially by Southgate for the friendly ones remained:
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (West Ham United), Jack Butland (Stoke City), Jordan Pickford (Everton);
Defender: Ryan Bertrand of Southampton, Gary Cahill of Chelsea, Phil Jones of Manchester United, Harry Maguire of Leicester City, John Stones of Manchester City, Kyle Walker of Manchester City, Kieran Trippier of Tottenham Hotspur, Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Joe Gomez (Liverpool)
Socks: Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Ashley Young (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace);
Attackers: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Tammy Abraham (Swansea), Jamie Vardy (Leicester)
The current form of Germany
Current world champion, winner of the Russian Confederations Cup in 2017 using a reserve team and with 100% use in the European qualifiers, Germany certainly has no reason to change their strategy of calls. That’s why Joachim Low called for this Friday’s friendly against England and the 14th match against France.
This does not mean a complete absence of news, but ‘old’ news. The socks Mario Gotze and Ilkay Gundogan are called again for the first time since the friendly in which Germany thrashed San Marino by 8 to 0 in November 2016.
The removal of both was not by technical criteria, but by physical problems. Metabolic problems pushed Gotze away from the lawns. In the case of Gundogan, the absence was caused by a serious knee injury.
If the athletes’ recovery caused them to return to be related by Low, figures in the summons of goalkeepers Manuel Neur, who is recovering from surgery on his left foot, and midfielder and striker Muller, with a right thigh injury, were left behind. out of the friendly double round.
Germany defend an unbeaten sequence of 19 matches. They were 16 wins and three draws since the defeat against France, by 2 to 0, on July 7, 2016 in Eurocopa. Of those games, ten were in the qualifiers for the World Cup of Russia where the Germans added the 30 possible points, won the group C with clearance and, with break, had the best attack (43 tries) of the competition.
For the friendly clashes of November Low called:
Goalkeepers: Marc-André Stegen (Barcelona-ESP), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen-ALE) and Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain-FRA)
Defenders: Jérôme Boateng, Mats Hummels, Joshua Kimmich and Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich-ALE), Mathias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach-ALE), Marcel Halstenberg (RB Leipzig-ALE), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin-ALE) and Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea-ING)
Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain-FRA), Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund-ALE), Ilkay Gündogan and Leroy Sané (Manchester City-ING), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen-ALE) , Sami Khedira (Juventus-ITA), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid-ESP), Mesut Özil (Arsenal-ING) and Sebastian Rudy (Bayern Munich- ALE)
Attackers: Lars Stindl (Borussia Mönchengladbach-ALE), Sandro Wagner (Hoffenheim-ALE), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig-ALE) and Amin Younes
History of the matches England vs Germany
The English take a slight advantage in the clashes with the Germans. There were 16 victories against 15 successes of the rival. Ties were only held four times.
