England's Stones out of Andorra, Serbia World Cup qualifiers / Photo: Ben STANSALL - AFP
NYSE - LSE
England's Stones out of Andorra, Serbia World Cup qualifiers
Manchester City defender John Stones has withdrawn from the England squad through injury for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia, manager Thomas Tuchel said Friday.
Stones has not added to his tally of 83 caps since last October and his first camp under Tuchel has now been cut short.
England face Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday before taking on Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, John Stones just left," Tuchel told a pre-match press conference.
"He came with minor issues, muscular issues, to camp and didn't progress as we thought and hoped he would.
"So, he left camp this morning (Friday) because we will not take the risk. Everyone else is available."
Tuchel confirmed England captain Harry Kane will lead the side in the Andorra qualifier.
"Yes. He (Kane) starts. There is no balance, the competition is on and it is World Cup season," the German added.
"We have a condensed camp and that means we will start with the team that we trust and the best team possible and we will manage the second game. We will not do it backwards.
"We will not get caught up in experiments and everything that counts is today and tomorrow and then we will do our assessment after the match to see who is available."
England only beat Andorra 1-0 when the teams met in their initial qualifier in June.
"We will face -- in both matches -- a deep block and a 5-4-1 for sure in the first match and it is the challenge to overcome that quickly and aggressively and play with more rhythm than we did in the first match (against Andorra)," said Tuchel.
Latvia and Albania are the other two sides in Group K of European qualifying, with the group winners to book a place at next year's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
H.Kaur--MT
