England manager Gareth Southgate says he is "open-minded" about Fifa's plans to stage the World Cup every two years following a meeting with Arsene Wenger.
Fifa is holding a feasibility study into shortening the gap between men’s and women’s World Cups from four to two years, following a request from the Saudi Arabian federation in May, which was approved by 166 national associations.
The idea has won the backing of former Arsenal boss Wenger, who is now Fifa’s chief of global football development.
Southgate revealed after England’s 4-0 World Cup qualifying win over Andorra on Sunday evening that he had spoken to Wenger about the proposals, saying he was on board as long as the football calendar does not become overwhelmed.
“I actually met with Arsene a couple of weeks ago, he was meeting a few different coaches so I have a pretty good idea of the proposals,” Southgate said.
“I think the whole calendar needs reviewing. My feedback would be – I don’t know how our generation are going to find a World Cup every two years a strange concept.
“But I also know that things like The Hundred in cricket have been an incredible success, so I’m open-minded about some of those things. But the calendar generally needs to be tidied up. We can’t keep adding more things in.
“I agree generally with the concept of better quality matches. Fewer matches, better quality across the board, but there’s lots of other things that need consideration and we can’t just add more in at the moment.”
Southgate said details still needed to be nailed down before he gave his full backing and that it was important that players were consulted over the proposals.
“There’s too many different strands, so there’s bits I thought could work, bits I think need more consideration and bits that probably wouldn’t work. I’m not certain," he added. "I’m not massively pro or negative to the concept, I think it needs a lot more thought.
“I also get it that if you are a player who has an injury for the World Cup, you might only get one opportunity every eight years, and that is really tough. I’m not certain on that side of it.
“The players’ unions could gather the thoughts of the players and I just think everybody has to work together on the calendar. It has to be coordinated. If we are looking that far ahead, there is no reason it can’t be.”
While Southgate saw some positives, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin expressed “grave concerns” about the proposals in a letter seen by the PA news agency last week, and returned to the theme at the European Club Association’s General Assembly in Geneva on Monday.
“We think that the jewel of the World Cup has value precisely because of its rarity,” he said. “Holding it every two years will lead to less legitimacy and dilute the World Cup itself. We think there is a space for everything and both national teams and clubs are fully occupying that physical and commercial space.”
England v Andorra player ratings
-
ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS: Sam Johnstone – 6, Didn’t have much to do but looked comfortable with his hands and feet whenever called upon. Reuters -
Reece James – 6. Composed when he had the ball in tight situations and was unlucky to see his effort from range cannon off the crossbar. AP -
Tyrone Mings – 7. Defended and passed the ball well throughout. Decisive to win the ball back in the build-up to the opener. Booked for an off-the-ball incident, which means he will miss the Poland match. Reuters -
Conor Coady – 6. Looked comfortable whenever called upon defensively and saw his overhead kick dip over the crossbar. AFP -
Kieran Trippier – 6. Wasn’t tested much defensively and overhit some of his passes and set-pieces. There were some nice passages of play from him, though. AP -
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 6. Playing in a midfield role, Alexander-Arnold made some intelligent runs and hit a great pass for Bellingham, but had times where he was a bit quiet. Getty -
Jordan Henderson – 7. Captain on the day, Henderson showed a brilliant range of passing and looked in full control in the midfield. EPA -
Jude Bellingham – 7. Provided some lovely bits of trickery, including one that helped produce the opener, but dragged a good chance wide. AP -
Jesse Lingard – 9. Took his first goal well to open the scoring with his first England goal since November 2018. Added a second by cutting onto his right foot and sending an effort bouncing over the goalkeeper’s hand. Rounded off a good performance by delivering a great cross for Saka’s goal. Getty -
Bukayo Saka – 8. Marked his 20th birthday with a goal in the 85th minute as he headed home Lingard’s cross. The winger deserved his goal, having shown quick feet and provided a threat throughout to help create chances for his teammates. Getty -
Patrick Bamford – 6. He was inches away from marking his England debut, and 28th birthday, with a goal but couldn’t quite reach Saka’s ball into the box. Didn’t have any real chances to score but his header for Coady’s opportunity was a good one. Getty -
SUBS: Mason Mount (Bellingham, 62’) – 7. Injected some extra life into the game and showed intelligence to win the penalty. Getty -
Harry Kane (Bamford 62’) – 7. Confidently converted his penalty, with the pace taking it past Josep Gomes. Was denied by a good save in the latter stages. AP -
Jack Grealish (James, 62’) – 6. Linked up with Mount nicely for the penalty and played some nice passes but also had a few sloppy moments. AFP
