MY ACCOUNT
Gareth Southgate has named an unchanged England team to take on France in Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final, resisting the urge to change system to combat the threat of Kylian Mbappe.
Neither England nor France showed any changes from their last-16 wins over Senegal and Poland respectively.
For Didier Deschamps’ world champions, there was no surprise, but there had been debate around the potential for Southgate to revert to the back five used previously against top teams.
Having gone with a four-man defence throughout England’s run to the last eight, though, Southgate kept faith with that set-up.
There had been a great deal of focus on Kyle Walker’s role up against Mbappe at right-back, and both men were included from the start.
The reward for the victors at Al Bayt Stadium would be a clash against surprise semi-finalists Morocco, who defeated Portugal earlier on Saturday to become the first African or Arab side to make the last four of a World Cup.
