GARETH SOUTHGATE has warned his England stars there is no room for sentiment against war-torn Ukraine at Wembley today.
The Three Lions face Ukraine for the first time since the horrific Russian invasion of their country.
And manager Southgate declared: “We all want to pay our respects and show our support — and that’s important.
“But as soon as they enter the competition, they want to go through and it’s game on. So in a football sense we need to do what we need to do to win the game.”
Scotland were overwhelmed by the occasion when they lost an emotionally-charged World Cup play-off semi-final last June in Ukraine’s first game since the war began.
And Southgate yesterday ordered his squad to maintain the high standards displayed in Thursday’s terrific 2-1 opening Euro 2024 qualifying win in Italy.
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He insisted: “I would be worried if our players don’t have that same level of motivation Ukraine have.
“Our job is to qualify, to represent our country with the pride that Ukraine are going to represent their country with.
“We’ve got to make sure our level of motivation and focus is what it was before the game in Italy. We had a lot of drive for that.
“Because we were still smarting from the World Cup, we were smarting from previous games against Italy. Now, three days later, we’ve got to get back to that start point.”
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Ukraine beat Scotland 3-1 in June 2022 — their first competitive match for nearly seven months — although they lost the play-off final 1-0 to Wales so did not qualify for Qatar.
England will travel to Ukraine on September 9 but since the war started, all their matches have been played in neighbouring Poland.
Asked about the Scotland game, Southgate said: “That was difficult. It was the beginning of the war and Hampden had a different feel. But it’s not irrelevant.”
More than 1,000 Ukrainians — and the families who have welcomed them into their homes across Britain — will attend today’s match.
Before kick-off both teams will feature in a joint picture with the Ukraine national flag.
England keeper Jordan Pickford said: “It’s tough for them as a nation. It’s a massive game of football first and foremost in the qualifying group.
“That is a tough group for us to get out of. Obviously what they are going through is not very good for the nation. For us, it is a big step to qualify for the Euros in Germany.”
The last time England played Ukraine was in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals in Rome in July 2021 — nearly eight months before the Russian invasion.
The Three Lions won 4-0 with two goals from Harry Kane and strikes by Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
