The Times - UK (2021-11-11)

the times | Thursday November 11 2021 75

Sport

forward planning to do for Qatar

Indeed, England have only eight
more matches before Qatar: two home
friendlies in March — provided that
they do not mess up over the coming
days and are forced into the World
Cup play-offs — four Nations
League games in June and two more
in September. The Nations League
draw takes place on December
16.
That is only three more
camps, and Southgate and
Steve Holland, his assistant,
are probably already envis-
aging the fun and games
from clubs reluctant to
release players after a
draining domestic
campaign.
The alternative to
Kane in this squad is
Roma’s Tammy Abraham, who
scored on his return last month
in the 5-0 rout of Andorra.

Abraham has leapt through a

window of opportunity created by the

injuries to Calvert-Lewin, who was

Kane’s understudy at Euro 2020 but

who was entrusted with less than 20

minutes in the tournament, and

Bamford, whose one cap came

against Andorra in September,

when he barely received a pass

of note.

But Southgate must

harbour doubts over Abra-

ham given that he had initial-

ly been overlooked last

month and was called up

almost as an afterthought.

Of course, given that

England are blessed with

the Manchester City

trio of Raheem Ster-

ling, Phil Foden and

Jack Grealish, they could take a leaf out

of Pep Guardiola’s book and deploy

Foden as a false nine but that would be

viewed as a radical move.

Against Albania tomorrow, there will

be no need to experiment. Kane will

take the strain and endeavour to redis-

cover his scoring touch. Last month’s

draw with Hungary was the first time

he failed to score in a qualifier for

England since September 2017, ending

a scoring streak that stretched over 15

successive games.

He was substituted with 15 minutes

remaining and admitted that his

performances for club and country

“haven’t been there the last few weeks”.

It was a statement that should have

alarmed Southgate, not least because

Kane has scored only once in the six

games since.

He remains Plan A, but England

would be wise to formulate an alter-

native, however difficult that seems.

NICK POTTS/PA

Kane’s 15-game scoring streak

in qualifiers ended last month

Chilwell learnt

from his father,

sharing the

glory in Porto,

below right

Balogun is backed

to prove a point to

Arsenal and Arteta

Lee Carsley, the England Under-21

manager, will hand Folarin Balogun

responsibility for leading the attack in

tonight’s European Championship

qualifier against the Czech Republic,

presenting the Arsenal youngster with

the opportunity to show he is deserving

of more opportunities at club level.

Carsley has been forced to rethink his

forward options after the dismissal of

Rhian Brewster, the Sheffield United

forward, in the narrow win in Andorra.

That result means England’s young-

sters are five points behind the Czechs,

who lead group G, having played one

game fewer, adding to the significance

of the meeting at Turf Moor.

The call-up this week of Emile Smith

Rowe, the scorer of the only goal of the

game against Andorra, to Gareth

Southgate’s senior squad has forced a

further rethink. But Carsley insists he

has no concerns in placing his faith in

Balogun, despite the 20-year-old’s fail-

ure to break into Mikel Arteta’s squad.

“I had a conversation with him [Balo-

gun] a week ago to tell him that he was

going to start, he was going to be our

No 9 and that to make sure that he was

fully focused when he came in,” Carsley

said. “In training, I can see the focus he’s

had and he’s relished that chance.”

Balogun made his first Premier

League start in the opening game of the

season but has since mainly featured

for Arsenal Under-23 and Carsley be-

lieves tonight’s clash will provide valu-

able experience. “He’s probably missed

out on that little bit of senior football,”

he said. “You need testing. Watching

him in the under-23s for Arsenal, it’s

probably a little bit too easy for him. I

imagine he wants to play for Arsenal

but it’s such a big club with a lot of

competition. They’ll have a career path

for him and a way to break through

because he’s got all the attributes.

“We’ve had Tammy Abraham, Dom

Solanke, Dominic Calvert-Lewin,

Adam Armstrong [come through as

strikers]. But he’s very much an individ-

ual, not like any of them. It would be fair

to say that a lot of the clubs in Europe

are aware of Flo’s qualities.”

Carsley insisted that he welcomed

Smith-Rowe’s promotion, even if it has

affected his plans. “It’s a brilliant oppor-

tunity for Emile and one he deserves,”

he said. “We want to qualify and do well

in the tournament but the priority will

be getting players through to the senior

team. It’s a real lift for the group when

one goes through.”

England Under-21 (probable, 4-3-3): Bursik; Aarons,

Guehi, Harwood-Bellis, Thomas; Gallagher, Skipp,

Gibbs-White; Palmer, Balogun, Gordon.

Tonight, kick-off 7pm. TV: Sky Premier League.

Ian Winrow

England watch Grealish bug

suffering from illness. Southgate

could pick Kalvin Phillips, Jordan

Henderson and Jude Bellingham as his

midfield trio.

Grealish has been starting for

England on the left of a front three and

Southgate will be loath to lose the

former Aston Villa man with his origi-

nal 25-strong squad down to 21 names.

In addition to Rice and Ward-

Prowse, Marcus Rashford did not

report. Luke Shaw, like Mount, could

still join up before the game with San

Marino on Monday should he receive

the all clear after concussion checks.

Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe has

been promoted from England’s under-

21s to bolster Southgate’s options.

England supporters could spend the

World Cup in Qatar “glamping” in the

desert as part of accommodation plans

for the tournament. The hosts are plan-

ning for a huge influx of supporters

from across the globe by putting on an

additional 175,000 beds at campsites

and two moored cruise ships.

The campsites will be more luxurious

than normal and will be located in the

sand dunes on the edge of Doha. The

plans will allow England supporters to

travel on a budget, with some hotels

already costing £500 a night.

Meanwhile, about 4,000 Albania

supporters are expected at Wembley.

Most will be London-based supporters

and the FA has held meetings with

the Metropolitan Police as it looks to

avoid a repeat of the crowd trouble

which marred last month’s 1-1 draw

with Hungary.

US trio’s Premier League battle

Bidding for the United States television

rights to show Premier League matches

has gone into a second round, raising

the prospect of even more cash for top-

flight clubs as three big American

broadcasters fight it out.

The Premier League had been on

course for a 50 per cent rise in the value

of the rights to $1.5 billion (about £1.1 bil-

lion) for a six-year deal, but that now

looks as though it may be surpassed.

The first round of bidding ended on

Monday and the Premier League has

opened the second round with an

announcement expected next week.

NBC Sports holds the rights until next

year — it paid $1 billion for 2016-22 —

and is the favourite to secure at least

some of the rights but faces competi-

tion from ESPN and CBS.

The Premier League has split the

rights into four packages instead of one

so that they can be shared between

more than one broadcaster, as is the

case domestically with Sky Sports, BT

Sport and Amazon Prime.

NBC is understood to have priori-

tised Premier League rights even over

NHL ice hockey, which has been a

staple sport for broadcasters in the US.

Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter

Balogun will be

leading the line for

England Under-21

continued from back

inside today

PSG Women star ‘ordered attack on

rival to steal place in the team’

World, page 35