Dejected England, Belgium aim to leave World Cup on a high

England manager Gareth Southgate admits the World Cup third-place play-off is a game that no team wants to play, but tomorrow's match against Belgium offers the chance to finish the tournament on a winning note.

A gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Croatia after extra-time denied England a shot at a second World Cup triumph, instead setting up a consolation game against familiar foes Belgium.

Roberto Martinez's side, who were beaten 1-0 by France in the last four, topped Group G ahead of England after an Adnan Januzaj goal settled a low-key encounter in Kaliningrad.

That game saw both coaches heavily rotate their teams, and a similar scenario is likely in Saint Petersburg, with several fringe players pushing for a start.

"The honest thing is, it's not a game any team wants to play in," said Southgate, whose side have drawn praise for the way they have briefly united a country bitterly divided over Brexit.

However, he insisted that will not alter England's approach as they look to achieve their best finish since they won the competition in 1966.

"We'll want to give a performance of huge pride, there's no question about that," said Southgate.

"Every time we wear the shirt of our national team we want to play with pride, we want to play well and we want to win."
- 'Important game' -
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"But I would accept it is very difficult when you had the ambition of getting to the final. It's very difficult to prepare for the next game."