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England confirmed XI vs USA: Harry Kane STARTS in unchanged side

  /  autty

Gareth Southgate has named an unchanged starting line-up for England's game against the USA this evening.

Captain Harry Kane's involvement in England's second group stage fixture had been in doubt after the Spurs star suffered a knock in the 6-2 win over Iran.

But the 29-year-old trained alongside his teammates yesterday and will be fit to lead the squad out at the Al Bayt Stadium.

'Harry's good, he came through training with no problems — it would be a brave decision to leave him out of the starting team. He's in a good space. Definitely.' The England manager explained.

'We managed him a little bit last week through training because of the load he has had so we're always conscious of that. Some players need a little bit more training, some might do half a session, it depends on what their individual load has been.

Confirmed England XI: Jordan Pickford, Kieran Trippier, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Luke Shaw, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Mason Mount, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane.

Harry Maguire's involvement had also been a concern after the Manchester United star was replaced on Monday due to illness, but he has recovered to start alongside John Stones in the centre of defense.

There had been concerns that the 29-year-old defender had suffered a concussion before being replaced in England's World Cup opener, but Southgate explained that he believes dehydration was a factor in the defender feeling unwell.

'We think an element of that was dehydration.'

'Because of the awareness of concussion we've checked back through all of that really diligently and FIFA have as well, because it's one of the key things from their medical department in this tournament.

Meanwhile James Maddison once again has not been named in the squad as he continues to recover from a knee injury sustained in Leicester's final Premier League fixture before the World Cup break.

Southgate spoke earlier this week to hint that the midfielder may return for the final Group B clash against Wales after Maddison once again trained alone in a bid to expedite his recovery.