World Cup 2018: Gareth Southgate fears England players desperate to face Sweden could hide injuries from him
Three Lions boss says he has 'two or three' concerns following gruelling last-16 win over Colombia
GARETH SOUTHGATE has urged his England stars to tell the truth over their injuries.
The players are all desperate to play in tomorrow’s World Cup quarter-final against Sweden — but the Three Lions boss knows a few are carrying knocks.
Southgate, whose squad travels to Samara this afternoon, said: “The lads would always be prepared to risk injury for these games but that can’t be to the detriment of the performance level.
“When it gets to these games, they’re not as honest as they might be about how fit they are.
"So you need a racehorse trainer’s eye at times to really try and sort that out.
“It’s not straightforward, we won’t see everything but we’ll have a feel from what they’re reporting and the way they’re running and try to make the best decisions we can.”
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Ashley Young took a knock to his ankle and suffered a thigh strain in the last-16 win over Colombia.
Other players — including Harry Kane, John Stones and Kyle Walker — cramped up in Tuesday’s energy-sapping Moscow tie.
Jamie Vardy did not train yesterday because of a groin problem and is a major doubt for tomorrow.
Dele Alli, who returned against Colombia after a thigh injury, went off with nine minutes left and missed extra-time but Southgate insists he is fit.
The England chief said: “Dele was absolutely fine after the game. I think the extra couple of days were really helpful for him.
“Young and Walker, we’ve no reason to believe they’re serious issues.
“But there are two or three in particular we’ve got to assess quite closely and see exactly what level they’re at.
“If we’ve got players that are 75 per cent, then the guys at 100 per cent who haven’t been in the team deserve to come in.
“At this stage, it is about minimal time on the pitch — the downside being we can’t push the players enough to see whether they’re OK. We’ll have to make late decisions.”