England manager Gareth Southgate will decide on Saturday morning on whether striker Harry Kane is fit enough to face Belgium in the World Cup third-place play-off, to potentially score the goals to secure him the Golden Boot.
Kane has looked tired towards the end of England’s knockout matches but six goals in six games have made him the World Cup’s leading scorer, two ahead of Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku and three in front of France forward Antoine Griezmann. Both rivals can add to their tally and overtake Kane and he is desperate to play in England’s final match of the tournament on Saturday afternoon to prevent them doing so.
England camp sources believe that while Southgate will make several changes for the game, with many players struggling with injury and illness, he will give captain Kane the nod to help him finish the World Cup as the competition’s leading scorer.
Late calls
Due to the quick turnaround from the semi-final defeat to Croatia on Wednesday, Southgate, who had all 23 of his squad train on Friday at their Spartak Zelenogorsk base, will make late calls on his final starting line-up.
“We need to check them all,” he said, “because we have trained a little but we need to check four or five illness and muscular [injuries]. We don’t want to give Belgium any help frankly.
“Ashley Young had a bit of illness going into the last game and the game has taken a lot of out him. Jesse Lingard – we have to check on him. Kieran Trippier is an obvious one with muscular for the other day.
“There are a couple of other minor ones 48 hours from the game and see how serious they are. I would like to make as few a changes as possible but in some instances a fresher player will help us get to the performance level.”
More on World Cup 2018:
Why the World Cup third-place play-off should be scrapped
Why Luka Modric could be key to Croatia stopping France forward Kylian Mbappe in World Cup final
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