Gareth Southgate is still on a Covid red alert and is not ready to relax rules for the WAGs.
England players’ wives, girlfriends and family members have shown up in Qatar to support the team at the World Cup. They were able to see the players at the end of the Iran game and there were nice pictures of them being reunited and even hugging their kids.
But Southgate is still being cautious over the virus and, even though he wants to arrange a get-together for players and their loved ones, will first study the data and infection rates. The Lionesses were put under lockdown during the women’s Euros last summer and Southgate wants a more relaxed approach but is still wary.
England boss Southgate said: “I think towards the end, they had to batten it down a bit more because they had a few positive cases so we're going to have to monitor it throughout.
“There's this balance of the spirit and happiness of the group and the medical line of zero risk, and sometimes if you're going to take zero risks it can kill it for everybody, so we've got to try and find that balance. We're going to see how the next few days go and we've talked about maybe looking at something after the second game but we've got to monitor what the rates out here as much as anything else.”
England’s Euros campaign was dogged last year by Covid as Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell had to self isolate after a scare. Qatar have relaxed travelling rules for fans which includes the travelling families and you no longer need to take a test before getting on the plane.
Families are also dotted across Doha while some are also flying in from Dubai on a match-to-match basis. Meanwhile, Declan Rice revealed recent criticism of England left the players with a “ fire in their bellies” to prove the doubters wrong at the World Cup.
England went into the finals on the back of a six-match winless streak and relegation from the Nations League. But they put in a fine display to beat Iran 6-2 in their opening Group B game, Bukayo Saka scoring a brace and goals from Jude Bellingham, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish giving Gareth Southgate’s side a fine start.
Sitting deeper in midfield, Rice also had a great World Cup debut and said the questions over the squad and manager Southgate were ones the players were keen to emphatically answer.
“It was a positive start,” he said. “There were a lot of doubts about us before the tournament. There has been a lot of talk about us not winning in our last six matches.
“By our standards, with the players we have got, we know that it hasn’t been good enough. But this was a World Cup stage and you could see there was a fire in our bellies.
“We wanted to prove a lot of people wrong. People will say, ‘It’s only Iran’ but they have had some good results at past World Cups. In September, they beat Uruguay and drew with Senegal. It was a real positive performance but we can’t get too ahead of ourselves. It’s the USA next and they are going to be another level up.”
