Gareth Southgate says his door is always open to help England Women’s manager Phil Neville ahead of World Cup

After leading England men’s side to the World Cup semi-finals, Southgate is ready and willing to offer any help for the Women’s campaign if needed this summer

Friday 29 March 2019 05:53 EDT
Comments
Harry Kane calls racist abuse faced by England players 'unacceptable'

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Gareth Southgate has said his door is open for Phil Neville if the England Women's team coach wants to reach out to him for advice ahead of the Women's World Cup in June.

Southgate, who led the England men's team to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia last year, meets Neville regularly at St George's Park and says information is already being shared between members of their support staff.

"We're all at St George's and in offices next door to each other so, as much as we can, we try and share what's going on across the games," Southgate told The Telegraph.

"Phil knows that whenever he wants to pick our brains on tournaments or our experiences then we are here to help. It's not for me to go knocking and tell him, he knows we are here.

"A lot of the medical teams and physical performance teams are sharing information... because that area in the women's game has been underfunded and is better now because more of the bigger clubs are getting involved."

The Lionesses are ranked fourth in the world and are among the favourites to win the World Cup, which starts on June 7 in France.

Neville's side won the four-team SheBelieves Cup earlier this month, beating Brazil and Japan and drawing with hosts United States, who are also the reigning world champions.

"I think they've broken through. The bronze medal (at the 2015 women's World Cup) was a massive step forward," Southgate added. "They're hugely competitive now with all the top nations."

England boss Gareth Southgate hails Henderson as midfielder reaches milestone

England, who are in Group D, kick off their World Cup campaign on 9 June against Scotland. Argentina and Japan are the other teams in the group.

Reuters

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in