Romelu Lukaku to miss out as England face Belgium for top spot in Group G

Sport360 staff 19:42 28/06/2018
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  • England and Belgium will face each other on Thursday for the top spot in their group of the World Cup as defending champions Germany arrived home after a disastrous campaign.

    Both teams – England and Belgium, won their opening two group games and are on six points each.

    The game will be played on the back of an embarrassing exit of Joachim Low’s 2014 winners, who also finished bottom of their group after a shock 2-0 defeat to South Korea.

    While German stars apologised to their fans on social media following their exit, there have been talks about England having an easier route at the World Cup if they lose in Kaliningrad.

    Although coach Gareth Southgate insisted his team are much more focused on winning rather than plotting a particular route through the knockout stages.

    “We need to keep winning football matches and we want to breed a mentality that everybody in our squad wants to constantly win,” said the manager, who has created a relaxed atmosphere for his young charges.

    southgate

    “We’ve not won a knockout game since 2006. Why we would be starting to plot which would be a better venue for our semi-final is beyond me really.”

    England have been impressive in their two outings so far – a 2-1 win over Tunisia and a thumping of Panama 6-1 in Nizhny Novgorod.

    However they face a tough opponent in Belgium as they come face to face with world-class talent such as Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne.

    On an other note, England captain Harry Kane is the top goalscorer at the World Cup with five goals so far and his team would be relying on him to get them going against Belgium.

    But Southgate had hinted towards making some changes ahead of the encounter as it isn’t a must-win clash.

    On the flip side, Roberto Martinez is expected to make changes to his team, with Manchester United forward Romelu Lukaku quite certain to miss out after having injured his ankle in the game against Tunisia.

    “We want to perform well but I think the priority is not to win,” Martinez said.

    “That’s the reality. We wanted to qualify, we’ve done that. There are players who have been in very demanding games so it’s very important for us to protect and give every player the best opportunity to be in the best condition in the knockout games.”

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