Mane's out for Senegal as Southgate expects another tough clash

Gareth Southgate’s England side arguably made life difficult for themselves again in their Group B battle at the first ever winter World Cup out in Qatar.

Having taken a more positive 6-2 victory over Iran in the opener, England mustered very little of note in the scoreless bore draw with the United States, but a far improved second half showing in the home nations clash with Wales on Tuesday evening finally secured qualification through to the knockout stages.

A brace from Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford sandwiched a Phil Foden (Manchester City) effort to see England take on paper a pretty comfortable 3-0 victory at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Doha, and with qualification secured, Southgate now knows his side will face Senegal in the last 16 clash and if some fans cannot wait that long for a bit more entertainment they could always try new mobile casinos uk to keep themselves occupied.

Senegal themselves qualified through having finished in second place in Group A. The opened with a defeat against the Netherlands, but comfortably beat hosts Qatar in the second game, before taking a 2-1 victory over Ecuador.

Speaking to the media after securing our place in the next round, Southgate reflected quite positively on the game, feeling that across the three clashes it was a case of job done from his perspective.

“In the first half we really controlled the game but didn’t create enough clear chances. We wanted a little more thrust and threat, to play forward a little bit quicker. Second half once we got the two goals, we knew their spirit had probably gone. It’s been a tough, tough tournament for them. We kept our discipline and quality right the way to the end. It’s great for Rashford. He’s trained really well and been impressive since he came back in. He could’ve had a hat-trick! The free-kick, that’s what he’s capable of. It’s an incredible strike. It’s a nice nigh for us. It’s a big game that comes with a lot of additional pressure but we dealt with it really well, we were calm and we showed our quality.”

Knowing that it was Senegal next up, Southgate also commented that they would be another tricky opponent for us to deal with and he was expecting a very tough clash with the African champions. Playing somewhat in our favour is that it has already been confirmed that former Liverpool, and now Bayern Munich star, Sadio Mane has been ruled out of the tie on Sunday following injury.

“We know on the rankings we will be favourites – we’ve got to deal with that – but they’re a very dangerous team. The first objective is achieved. To this point we’re really pleased. The big business starts now.”

Having commented on Rashford’s performance in the second half of the game, he was obviously delighted to be back on the scoresheet having not featured for England in the previous 16 months.

“Moments like this are what I play football for – the biggest and best moments. I am really happy today and happy we are through to the next round. Hopefully we can build on this performance. I have massive ambitions for this team. We can play even better than we’ve shown today. We have a really good squad and a squad that is definitely capable of challenging to win the tournament.”

Let us hope Rashford is celebrating with the fans again after the next match.