Gareth Southgate Adds Light to England Squad Selection

 Gareth Southgate has great faith that Chelsea’s Fikayo Tomori can adapt to international football despite his inexperience at club level. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Gareth Southgate has great faith that Chelsea’s Fikayo Tomori can adapt to international football despite his inexperience at club level. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
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Gareth Southgate Adds Light to England Squad Selection

 Gareth Southgate has great faith that Chelsea’s Fikayo Tomori can adapt to international football despite his inexperience at club level. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Gareth Southgate has great faith that Chelsea’s Fikayo Tomori can adapt to international football despite his inexperience at club level. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

It has come to something when the hot topic of conversation at an international break is the problem of cramming all the available talent into the England squad. Yet that is the situation Gareth Southgate finds himself in (for now, at least).

The slightly wonky nature of last month’s 5-3 victory against Kosovo aside, England have proceeded serenely through Euro 2020 qualifying. They have maximum points from four matches, scoring 19 and conceding four. Visits to Prague and Sofia in the coming period might – might – change all that but otherwise there is barely a blot on the horizon. There is not even anybody who has been tweeting out of turn.

Instead the focus is on that notoriously “nice problem to have”: choosing who to pick and who to leave out when your options are plentiful. Kyle Walker’s time as an England starter looks to have been curtailed as he missed the cut for the second squad in a row, with Southgate preferring the attacking qualities of Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold to the slightly more defensive Walker. Dele Alli, too, will face a battle to get back into Southgate’s plans, with the manager wanting to see more of the Spurs man “getting into the areas where he is really dangerous”.

Making decisions is what Southgate is paid for but his criteria are of interest. Typically for the England manager he is willing to engage with the topic and he shed some light on his thought processes from the belly of Wembley Stadiumat Wembley this past week.

“It’s difficult because in a lot of sports, selection is very straightforward: you hit a time and you’re in or you’re out,” he said. “We have to balance what we think a player’s capable of. There are some that might be having a brief spell for their club that is very good, but we don’t think they can adapt their game to international football or we think there’s a limit on where they might be able to go. We need to balance that against a player that isn’t playing as regularly, perhaps, but we think is of a high quality.

“So, it’s a preference and it’s an advantage if guys are playing regularly because you want to come into a camp confident, fit, physically sharp. In the positions where it’s very tight, where you’ve got a lot of talent, that differentiator is key. It’s like in attacking midfield where Dele and Ox [Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] haven’t been playing as much compared to [James] Maddison and [Mason] Mount, who have played every game and are scoring.

“At centre-back, Fik [Fikayo Tomori] has just come in and Joe [Gomez] isn’t playing as much, but we have great belief that they are going to be our better players moving forward because of their speed and their attributes and how that would translate into international football.

“Maybe if we had six or seven playing at a level that they are with similar attributes, we’d view that differently because they weren’t in the team, but that is a little bit more complicated in its way.

“I understand at times I’ll get some stick because I try to say: ‘You want to pick people in form who are playing regularly,’ and it isn’t always possible to do it exactly that way.”

It bears noting that such thoughtful – and, as far as we can tell, honest – assessments of their work are not commonplace among managers. It adds light and understanding for everyone and should be encouraged. That applies equally to the calm way Southgate tends to approach his public utterances, as borne out by his remarks on one of England’s youngsters who has as yet been unable to force their way into the senior squad, Phil Foden.

Foden is a multitalented footballer who has already won a World Cup (at under-17 level) and is thought by many to have the skillset necessary to knit play together in the middle. He is, however, one of those who is not playing much and his undoubted ability is not yet enough to get him into Southgate’s squad.

“I’d probably try to calm Phil’s situation, because there’s a lot of expectation around him and that’s a huge pressure for a young player potentially,” was Southgate’s take. “Phil is physically a different specimen as well, he is still physically developing.

“Pep [Guardiola] recognises the quality of the player, but equally the quality of the opposition around him, so I’m sure in the coming months that game time will increase as the number of matches racks up. You should always assess those things halfway through the season and towards the end of the season to see how much football they’ve got.”

For Foden, as with others currently outside the Three Lions camp, hopes of pulling on the shirt next summer remain alive.

The Guardian Sport



Eala Makes History for Philippines by Reaching Eastbourne Final

Philippines' Alexandra Eala reacts on match point after beating France's Varvara Gracheva in their women's singles semi-final tennis match on day five of the Lexus Eastbourne International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, southern England, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
Philippines' Alexandra Eala reacts on match point after beating France's Varvara Gracheva in their women's singles semi-final tennis match on day five of the Lexus Eastbourne International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, southern England, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Eala Makes History for Philippines by Reaching Eastbourne Final

Philippines' Alexandra Eala reacts on match point after beating France's Varvara Gracheva in their women's singles semi-final tennis match on day five of the Lexus Eastbourne International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, southern England, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
Philippines' Alexandra Eala reacts on match point after beating France's Varvara Gracheva in their women's singles semi-final tennis match on day five of the Lexus Eastbourne International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, southern England, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)

Alexandra Eala became the first Filipino to reach a WTA Tour final as she beat fellow qualifier Varvara Gracheva 7-5 2-6 6-3 at the Eastbourne Open on Friday, while lucky loser Jenson Brooksby will meet holder Taylor Fritz in the men's final.

Left-hander Eala, ranked 74th in the world, edged a tight first set before losing five games in a row in the second as the match appeared to be slipping away.

But the 20-year-old regrouped in the decider and survived a tough seventh game before breaking her French opponent's serve to lead 5-3. She then enjoyed a love service game to seal victory.

In Saturday's final she will face 19-year-old Australian Maya Joint who beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-3.

It will be the youngest Eastbourne final since 1981 when Tracy Austin faced fellow American Andrea Jaeger.

"I'm super happy because that was a tough match and there were some really tough moments," an emotional Eala, who is based in Mallorca and trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy, said on court.

"It was tough physically and mentally because she is a tough player and also came from qualifying."

Eala's run will not have gone unnoticed by Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, who has been drawn to play her in the first round at the All England Club next week.

Krejcikova reached the quarter-finals at Eastbourne but withdrew with a thigh injury on Thursday.

Joint continued her impressive run as she reached her first WTA final on grass, coming from 5-3 behind in the opening set against Pavlyuchenkova to take control.

"I'm very excited," the 51st-ranked Joint said on court. "I've learned to love playing on grass this week."

Three-times champion Fritz overcame Spanish sixth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3 3-6 6-1 and will now face fellow-American Brooksby after the lucky loser beat French fourth seed Ugo Humbert.

Fritz broke the Spaniard's first service game as he comfortably won the first set, and while Davidovich Fokina fought back to force a decider, the American broke twice in the last set to reach the final for the fourth time.

Brooksby won his first ATP title in April at the US Men's Clay Court Championship, where he began as a wildcard in the qualifying rounds and his 6-7(7) 6-4 6-4 win over Humbert sees the American make it to another final.

"I think it's a lot less pressure when you don't expect to be in the main draw and get the opportunity," Brooksby said.

"You just want to make the most of it."

Humbert came from 5-3 down to win the opening set on a tiebreak, before Brooksby bounced back despite the Frenchman's battling spirit.

The American took a 3-0 lead in the next two sets and Humbert drew level on both occasions, but Brooksby clinched both sets with a break of serve.