Gareth Southgate has explained the thinking behind England’s line-up for their World Cup quarter-final against Sweden.
Southgate has named an unchanged team from the one which beat Colombia in the Round of 16.
And the England manager has said he has stuck with the same XI because he expects his side to see a lot of the ball against Sweden.
“There will be long periods where we can control it but it is about breaking down their packed defence and defending the set-pieces, long balls and counter-attacks well,” he said.
“Over this period lots of leaders have emerged both in and out of the starting XI. A lot has been made of how together Sweden are but our group are very together and we hope we can bring our quality as well.”
Southgate added that the support back home in England has been driving his team on.
“We have been really grateful for the energy and support we are getting from home,” he said.
“We have to focus on the job at hand with a tough opponent. We know the strengths they have but also where we can hurt them.”
