ENGLAND have trained for the first time since arriving in Germany for the European Championships.
And Gareth Southgate’s troops have given him a huge boost ahead of their tournament opener.
The Three Lions touched down in Germany on Monday night to begin their pursuit of the Henri Delaunay Trophy.
England – who will be looking to go one better than their appearance in the Euro 2020 final – have set up base camp at the luxury Spa and Golf Resort Weimarer Land in the small town of Blankenhain.
And they’ve wasted no time preparing for what they hope will be a successful five-week-long campaign.
They held their first training session at the Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld in Jena on Tuesday afternoon.
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And Southgate was given a much-needed boost as his entire squad took part in the session.
Southgate was reportedly sweating on the fitness of FIVE players ahead of England‘s Group C opener on Sunday night.
It was claimed that Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, John Stones, Luke Shaw and star midfielder Jude Bellingham were all injury concerns.
The Telegraph reported the quintet would all have to be checked over ahead of their clash with Serbia.
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But the Manchester City, Manchester United and Real Madrid stars all took part in the first training session.
England‘s hopes of ending their 58-year wait for a trophy will likely depend on Bellingham replicating the scintillating form he had in his debut season with Real.
But Southgate has warned his troops they can’t rely on the 20-year-old to fire them to glory.
He said: “I’m sure he will but it is not his responsibility to do that.
“It is for all of us to get the focus right, to make sure our mentality is right and make sure we’re working on the areas that need to be better than against Iceland.
“We are not putting everything on Jude.
“We’ve got a lot of good players and it is a collective thing to go and try to win this tournament.
“If we are relying on one person, that isn’t going to be a team that wins.”
Southgate took England to the brink of Euro glory three years ago, guiding his side to the final at Wembley.
But the Three Lions suffered heartache as they lost on penalties to Italy.
Southgate believes his current crop of stars have what it takes to go one better in Germany.
The 53-year-old, however, has admitted he likely won’t be in charge of the team if they come up short again.
He told Bild: “If we don’t win, I probably won’t be here anymore.
“Then it might be the last chance.
“I think about half of the national coaches leave after a tournament – that’s the nature of international football.
“I’ve been here for almost eight years now and we’ve come close.
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“So, I know that you can’t keep standing in front of the public and saying ‘please do a little more’, because at some point people will lose faith in your message.
“If we want to be a big team and I want to be a top coach, then you have to deliver in the big moments.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
