England ring changes against full-strength Belgium

England manager Gareth Southgate has made five changes to his starting line-up for the third-place play-off against Belgium in St Petersburg.

Eurosport

Image credit: TNT Sports

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Phil Jones, Danny Rose, Fabian Delph and Eric Dier are all handed starts for England with Kyle Walker, Ashley Young, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli dropping to the bench following the 2-1 semi-final defeat by Croatia after extra-time on Wednesday.
Harry Kane is retained as he bids to claim the Golden Boot on six goals so far.
He is two goals clear of Romelu Lukaku, who starts for Belgium after their 1-0 loss to France in Tuesday's first semi-final.
Thomas Meunier returns from suspension and Youri Tielemans starts with Marouane Fellaini and Mousa Dembele making way.

FOLLOW ENGLAND V BELGIUM LIVE

England could finish third in the World Cup with a victory over Belgium, but manager Gareth Southgate believes they are not yet among the elite teams in international football.

TEAMS

England: Pickford, Jones, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Rose, Dier, Delph, Loftus-Cheek, Sterling, Kane
Belgium: Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen, Meunier, Chadli, Tielemans, Witsel, De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku
England are currently ranked joint 12th in the official FIFA rankings alongside Denmark but their run in Russia should see that position improve.
"I expect we'll be back in the top ten when the rankings come out. That's probably where we are," Southgate told a news conference on Friday.
"We're a bit outside the top five but competitive against those teams," he added.
Germany, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal and Argentina currently occupy the top five slots in the rankings but Southgate said that the pressure is now on England to rise up to the very top.
The Football Association has decided against holding a public parade of the team, despite the fact that a semi-final run was rewarded with such a welcome in 1990 and Southgate said he backed that decision.
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement