|
England are to host Nigeria at Wembley on June
2 and face Costa Rica at Elland Road five days later, before
kicking off their World Cup Group G campaign against Tunisia on
June 18.
Manager Gareth Southgate is confident that the fixtures will
help prepare England for their World Cup opener as well as their
second group match against Panama on June 24.
"We've mostly played European opposition up to now and the
Brazil game (a 0-0 draw in November) acted as a reminder that we
need to challenge ourselves in different ways as a team,"
Southgate said.
"We're going into a World Cup where we will play African and
Central American opposition so we get that with the games
against Nigeria and Costa Rica, but it's not just about the
games we've got in the group but hopefully beyond that as well.
"We want to expose the team to different styles and different
experiences."
England will conclude pool play against Group G top seeds
Belgium on June 28.
Southgate's side have also scheduled March friendlies against
Netherlands and Italy, both of whom failed to qualify for the
World Cup finals. (Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
