An amalgam of illness, injury and a “killer” heatwave is disrupting England’s preparations for the World Cup quarter-final against Norway on Thursday night but, outwardly at least, Phil Neville remains an oasis of calm. For two weeks at St George’s Park [England’s national training session in Staffordshire] my players essentially lived in a sauna. Houghton had her ankle stamped on in the final minutes of England’s extraordinary 3-0 last-16 win against Cameroon in Valenciennes on Sunday. Rather than appear fazed by such setbacks, England’s coach instead chose to regard them as a vindication of his controversial rotation policy. She’s maybe best going to sleep for 90 minutes.

Source: The Guardian June 26, 2019 10:13 UTC