England manager Gareth Southgate opted to involve his players a light session involving a nerf dart and the Three Lions seemed in high spirits ahead of their high-profile clash with Brazil.
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Despite a raft of stars withdrawing from the squad with questionable injury complaints, a depleted England side managed to hold Germany to a creditable 0-0 draw on Friday night.
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The likes of Tammy Abraham, Joe Gomez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jordan Pickford were given their senior debut by Southgate as an inexperienced England side gave a good account of themselves against the defending World Cup champions.
Intially, it seemed Southgate’s side would be overwhelmed by their opponents but held on to their clean sheet at the half-time whistle, thanks to some fine saves from Everton goalkeeper Pickford. The second-half, however saw a marked improvement from the hosts and they were somewhat unlucky not to score as the game finished with a 0-0 scoreline. Loftus-Cheek and Pickford, in particular, came in for a lot of praise for their solid displays at Wembley Stadium.
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England were solid, if unspectacular, during their unbeaten qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The Three Lions emerged as winners of UEFA Group F with a points tally of 26 from 10 games.
Their fixtures against Germany and Brazil were seen as ideal tests ahead of next year’s showpiece event, but the withdrawals of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, among others will not be able to give a true reflection of their standing among the heavyweights of world football.
Manchester United defender Phil Jones withdrew from the squad after aggravating a thigh injury during the Germany game to compel Southgate to issue call ups for uncapped trio Lewis Cook, Angus Gunn and Dominic Solanke.