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Wales and England set for Battle of Britain after misfiring

Times sports reporters – The Times

Two lacklustre performances from Wales and England have set up a tasty ‘‘home derby’’ for Wednesday (8am kickoff NZ time).

Gareth Southgate admitted that England lacked ‘‘zip’’ in yesterday’s goal-less draw with USA, but insisted they remain firmly in charge of their World Cup destiny.

A tepid stalemate in the Al Bayt Stadium was an underwhelming offering from Southgate’s side, who struggled to create clearcut chances and saw their rivals strike the crossbar through Christian Pulisic.

He defended the failure to hand Phil Foden a run-out in the second half and remained upbeat that England would qualify from Group B.

‘‘It was exactly the sort of game I thought it would be,’’ said Southgate. ‘‘Really tough, a good opponent who is very athletic. I knew it would be difficult for us after such a high [against Iran] to replicate that performance.

‘‘We didn’t quite have that same zip. That is going to happen. We are not going to roll through a tournament and sweep through everybody without having nights like that.

‘‘It puts us in a really strong position in terms of qualification. If we win our last game, we win the group.’’

Harry Kane, the England captain who sent a late header wide,

said: ‘‘It wasn’t the best performance. They pressed well, they made it difficult. The clean sheet puts us in a great position in the group.’’

A bitterly disappointed coach Rob Page said that Wales could have no complaints about Friday night’s 2-0 defeat by Iran that has left them on the brink of going out of the tournament.

Wayne Hennessey, the Wales goalkeeper, was sent off for a reckless challenge on Mehdi Taremi before Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian struck deep in added time. Wales must beat England and rely on the other result in Group B on Wednesday to progress.

Page said that he could not explain why Wales had performed so poorly, having been disappointing in the first half of the 1-1 draw with the USA. ‘‘You can carry one or two players if they have off days, but when the majority of the team are not quite at it, there’s only going to be one outcome,’’ he said.

‘‘We weren’t in the game at all. This is a hard one to take because of the stage we’re on. I’ve said to them before every game, ‘Go out and show the world what you show us every day.’ That is not a true reflection of that team. They got their rewards today, they deserved that defeat. That’s not like them, and that’s what disappoints me the most.’’

Page admitted he could make changes to the starting XI against England. ‘‘It’s a difficult changing room, but we will be ready. It’s a local derby and a great game to finish on and we’ll be prepared to go.’’

SPORT

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2022-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282544432315832

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