The beauty of international soccer is that nobody can go out and buy a perfectly balanced squad
s boos echoed round an increasingly empty Wembley on Friday, the pitch dotted with paper planes, the mind drifted back to a similar occasion eight years ago and another friendly played in preparation for the. That time the opposition were Portugal and then too there were boos, despite Chris Smalling heading the winner from a Raheem Sterling cross with four minutes remaining.
But that creates a problem because Foden naturally drifts infield and so balance demands a full-back who can go outside him. Luke Shaw is the only left-footed defender in the squad but he has not played since damaging a hamstring in February. He will not be fit until England’s second game, against Denmark, at the earliest and the fact that Gareth Southgate has felt the need to include him suggests the dearth of alternatives.
And it’s not as though any side enters the tournament in impressive form. Italy, the defending champions, were comfortably beaten twice by England in qualifying and, while they may be improving under Luciano Spalletti, they have been insipid in drawing 0-0 with Turkey and beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 in the past week.
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