Southgate ‘concerned’ about referee’s video briefing

Gareth Southgate is “concerned” that England making an example at a pre-World Cup referee briefing will have ramifications for his team.

A similar incident occurred on the third day of the World Cup Argentina receive a penalty against Saudi Arabia.

“We have to be clear or we don’t know where we are,” Southgate said.

The president of FIFA’s referees committee, Pierluigi Collina, highlighted England during a pre-tournament briefing, showing a clip of Kalvin Phillips blocking to create space for Maguire to score in last year’s World Cup qualifier win over Albania.

Collina explained that this goal would be disallowed at the World Cup, leaving Southgate uncertain about the possible consequences for England.

“What concerns me is that they used us in an example of the referees’ video,” he said. “What they showed us, the incident in the first half [with Maguire] it would be a definite shame.

“Maybe there is a shirt pull [for the Iran penalty] We need to be better at this, but I’m a little concerned that we were the example shown, and then to make a decision like what happened in the first half, we need clarification on what it’s going to be like.

“We have to have that dialogue with FIFA and just make sure. The goals are coming in and we don’t know if they’re going to stick or not.”

England could seal qualification from Group B with a win in their next match against the United States on Friday (19:00 GMT).

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