England boss Southgate keen to see youngsters ‘excel’

England face Belgium in a friendly on Tuesday

England manager Gareth Southgate shrugged off injuries in his squad ahead of a testing friendly against Belgium and said he’s looking forward to seeing his rookies “excel” ahead of the European championships.

Despite a 1-0 loss to Brazil on Saturday to a goal from 17-year-old sensation Endrick, Southgate is desperate to see how his third-ranked team match-up against fourth-ranked Belgium on Tuesday.

“Similar to (Brazil) we’re talking about a high-level game, brilliant experience for the players, a chance to see new players again, build towards the summer,” said Southgate after the five-time world champions ended his side’s 10-match unbeaten run.

“We deliberately took two really high-level games and of course we’ve had to put out a very different team to the one we might have envisaged.

Read full story on sport.timesofmalta.com

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