World Cup group G: Tunisia vs. England team news, predicted starting XIs and TV channel

Gareth Southgate’s England side aim to
attack at the World Cup

One-Minute Read

“They’re ready,” Southgate told the England team’s YouTube channel. “If they played today, they’d be
ready.” 

Ready for what? Three points, hopefully, given that
victory against the Tunisians is essential if the Three Lions want
to finish top of the group.

With Belgium playing Paraguay in the other group
game today (4pm, live on BBC One), a stylish win for England would
help build a head of steam before the crucial clash with the Red
Devils on 28 June. 

All for one and one for all

Southgate has already told the squad his starting line-up
for the match at the Volgograd Arena, saying: “I think it’s helpful
that everything’s settled. They know their jobs. The guys who
aren’t in the team are prepared and have trained well.

“They become a key part of what we do now. They have to
support the players who are starting, but also be ready because
anything can happen before the game, anything can happen during the
game.”

Although Southgate didn’t divulge the line-up the media
are in agreement that Harry Maguire will start ahead of Gary Cahill
in defence, Ashley Young has got the nod over Danny Rose at left
wing-back and Jordan Henderson is preferred to Eric Dier in the
midfield.

Southgate has no doubts that the players who didn’t make
the cut will offer unstinting support to the starting XI. “We only
progress as a collective,” he said. “That’s been the mentality from
the day we started and will go right through the
tournament.”

Drawing on experience

The last time the Three Lions went to a World Cup with a
former England player as manager was 1998, when they reached the
second round under Glenn Hoddle, a tournament in which Southgate
featured.

He’s been able to use that experience to prepare a new
generation for the unique challenge of a World Cup.

“Whenever you represent England, or any other
country, there’s expectation,” he said, when asked about how the
squad was handling the pressure. “There’s hope, you carry the
dreams of a nation, and it’s impossible to say to any player you
can go out and play without any feeling of pressure or any feeling
or fear.

“But what you have to do is make sure that doesn’t control
you and that you go for it in your performances and you don’t feel,
‘oh, I was inhibited in the way I played’, or worry about making
mistakes, because mistakes will happen for certain.”

Kane can’t wait

One of the players making his World Cup debut is captain
Harry Kane, who in 2014 was just beginning to make his way at
Tottenham.

“If you go back four years, I was watching the World Cup
while on holiday,” remarked Kane. “I’d played the last six or seven
games of the Premier League season under Tim Sherwood. Mauricio
Pochettino came in that summer and got me fit, in better shape and
more powerful, and I kicked on from there.

“The last few years I’ve improved and now I’m here, and I
can’t wait to get out there and show the world what I’ve
got.”

Asked if he and the survivors from the 2016 Euros are
still scarred by the experience of losing to Iceland, Kane replied:
“This is a new squad with new ideas and a new way of playing. We
want to attack this tournament, create chances and score
goals.” 

Bold and brave

Kane’s excitement is mirrored by his manager, who believes
England are on the brink of finally fulfilling their potential
after years of under-achievement.

“It’s going to be an exciting time watching these boys
play,” Southgate said. “They have a hunger to press and win the
ball back, and want to play brave football. They want to be a bold
and attacking team. We have lads that are so exciting and I want
them to go into this tournament, really go for it, be as good as
they may be.”

Tunisia vs. England predicted starting
XIs

How the teams could line up at the Volgograd
Arena tonight.

• Tunisia (4-2-3-1): Mathlouthi; Bronn, Youssef, Meriah, Maaloul;
  Skhiri, Sassi; Khaoui, Badri, Khazri; Youssef
• England (3-3-2-2): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier,
  Henderson, Lingard, Alli, Young; Sterling, Kane

Group G fixtures and live TV channels (all times
UK)

• 18 June: Belgium vs. Panama (4pm, BBC); Tunisia vs. England
  (7pm, BBC) 
• 23 June: Belgium vs. Tunisia (1pm, BBC) 
• 24 June: England vs. Panama (1pm, BBC) 
• 28 June: England vs. Belgium (7pm, ITV); Panama vs. Tunisia
  (7pm, ITV4)