England captain Harry Kane back in training for USA clash after scan all clear.
Kane suffered a knock to his right ankle after a clumsy challenge by Morteza Pouraliganji in England’s 6-2 win against Iran on Monday – the national team’s biggest ever win at the start of a major tournament.
The Spurs striker, who has a history of ankle problems, did play on for 25 minutes but was seen limping after the game and went for a precautionary scan.
But the 29-year-old received the green light to train on Wednesday, with the official England Twitter account sharing a photo of him in training accompanied by the caption “skipper” and a fist emoji.
“He is good, he has worked a little bit more individually on Wednesday but he will back in with the team on Thursday and good for the game,” Southgate said on ITV.
“We just checked him out, just to see. I think sometimes when you are treating things it is important to know exactly what is there and that was all good.
“It is not so much the ankle. It is more the foot. It was a poor challenge really but I think it is one that fortunately we have got away with reasonably lightly.”
Kane has had seven separate ankle injuries during his career – all of them sustained while playing for Spurs – so there was natural concern when Kane went down.
Asked whether he has been holding his breath, Southgate added: “No, I was when he went down on the pitch! But once he carried on playing everything has been good.”
Callum Wilson did not train but is not believed to be a fitness doubt, while James Maddison was again absent as he recovers from a knee complaint that ruled him out against Iran.
“Can you replicate what you do on a match day? Of course I can’t. Me and the physio, me and the fitness coach cannot have an 11 v 11 against each other.
