England superstar misses training ahead of Euro 2024 opening clash against Serbia
England defender John Stones was absent from training ahead of Euro 2024 opening clash against Serbia on June 16 at Veltins Arena. The 30-year-old was taken off the pitch in the beginning of the second half following an apparent injury in a friendly match against Iceland on Friday, June 7.
Stones missed the training on Wednesday, June 12, for sustaining a knock. He could not make it due to illness, as reported by Simon Peach. The rest of the 25 players of England's squad trained at their Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land base with their first clash of Euro 2024 set to take place on Sunday.
Gareth Southgate spoke about the knock sustained by John Stones which led to the defender being substituted and said (via talkSPORT):
"He's, we think, OK. Obviously he had a knock to the ankle earlier in the game and given how close we are to the finals, there's no point in risking anything after half-time, so mainly precautionary."
England has been sorted into Group C along with Serbia, Denmark, and Slovenia. Gareth Southgate led the national squad to the 2020 UEFA European Championship final, however, the Three Lions were defeated 3-2 on penalties by Italy. The Euro 2024 can be a great opportunity for them to claim the trophy for the first time in the nation's history.
England national team coach opens up after facing defeat against Iceland in Friendlies before Euro 2024
England's last friendly clash against Iceland ended in an unsatisfying 1-0 loss for the Three Lions, who were booed by the fans for the defeat.
Head coach Gareth Southgate addressed those while speaking to the press after the match and said (via talkSPORT):
"Well, I don't blame them. We have to accept that tonight we didn't play well enough so I don't think we can complain about an adverse reaction when we don't play well enough. What we have to do internally is stay calm, there's lots of reasons for the performance, there are things that we have to learn from and get better."
"It's a reminder that, everybody saying we're going to walk to Germany and walk off with this trophy, it's going to be unbelievably hard to do that. You have to have every part of your game right, mentality has to be right, character has to be right, so we stay calm after tonight, but we know the level has to raise," added the English manager.
Gareth Southgate has been in charge of the England national team since 2016.