FIFA World Cup 2018: Enjoy the ride, England boss tells young squad

Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate has rejected suggestions England should write off their chances at this summer's World Cup as unacceptable and has told his young squad to enjoy the ride.

Southgate discussed his 23-man squad for Russia and insisted he had selected the best available players. Southgate countered Gary Lineker's suggestion that the tournament should be seen as nothing more than a learning curve. "I don't think when you play or are involved with England you can ever write off any game or any tournament. That wouldn't be acceptable," he said.

"We know usually teams that win tournaments have a lot more caps than we do, a lot more experience of semi-finals and finals. This group, we really don't know. We have faith in them, we know they lack big match experience but how are they going to get that? The only way is to put them in.

"I don't want to limit what they think is possible because they're young and hungry and they want to have a go at things. That's what we've got to do at this tournament, really enjoy the ride."

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