On Friday night, England and the United States played to a scoreless draw in the World Cup group stage. Phil Foden did not get any playing time. Many fans were disappointed.
Phil Foden was anticipated to start for England in Qatar after being used often by Gareth Southgate at Euro 2020 before an injury ended his participation.
Despite Mason Mount’s dismal performance in the same position, Southgate did not use the Manchester City star against the United States. England defeated Iran 6-2 on Monday.
Southgate opted to substitute Jordan Henderson, Jack Grealish, and Marcus Rashford instead of Foden and explained to ITV why he made this decision after the game.
“Well, we believed it was appropriate to retain the team from the start, and then the wide players, we went with Jack and Marcus instead of Phil on the substitutions,” Southgate said.
It was anticipated that “Jack would hold the ball for us and bring us up the pitch” and “Marcus’ pace would be a danger going into that closing section of the game.”
England would advance to the World Cup quarterfinals with a draw or better against Wales on Tuesday. A victory would put them on top of Group B.
