Gareth Southgate giving reasons not to give much role for Phil Foden in England on World Cup 2022. He refused to allow Foden to get excessive pressure.
Phil Foden has performed well for Manchester City this season scoring eight goals and three assists. However, that score wasn’t enough to convince England manager Gareth Southgate to make him first choice at the 2022 World Cup.
Foden appeared for just 19 minutes off the bench in a 6-2 win against Iran in their opening Group B match in Qatar. In the next match, when England were drawn 0-0 by the United States, the 22-year-old was given no chance to play from Southgate.
Criticism is now closing in on Southgate as being believed to have wasted Foden’s talent. Southgate are now invited to play against Foden in their final Group B match against Wales.
The Three Lions need three points in this match to secure qualification for the round of 16. England currently top the table four points one point clear of Iran below them. The USA and Wales finished third and fourth with two points and one point respectively.
Southgate has a reason to optimize Foden at World Cup 2022. He stressed that he tried to keep Foden away from the high expectations he brought whenever he played for England. He considered this a burden for Foden to continue to develop.
“The level of expectation for him is too much for a young player who is still developing. We have to be careful as we are now putting a lot of pressure on him,” Southgate said as quoted by the Telegraph.
“We are a team and we need all the players and all of them can play a role, but none of them are the reason why we will win or lose. We have to make sure we don’t put Phil in a difficult situation on the pitch due to the high level of expectations for a player that I’m still developing,” he explained.
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