XtraTime Web Desk: Young English midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek said that he is fully ready if the management want him to start their second World Cup game if Dele Alli fails to start due to his injury.
Ali felt a thigh strain during England’s game against Tunisia which they won 2-1 on Monday and his fitness is a concern for England team management ahead of their second match on Sunday.
Chelsea midfielder Loftus-Cheek played the last 10 minutes of England’s opening match, during which period Harry Kane scored a stoppage-time winner, and he said he is ready to be part of Gareth Southgate’s starting line-up if called upon.
“I am happy if I start or if I don’t,” Loftus-Cheek said in an interview on England’s official YouTube channel.
“I will be ready to come on again if I get the opportunity.”
Reflecting on his positive, attacking approach to his World Cup debut, the 22-year-old said he did what came naturally to him.
“It was a natural instinct when the game is like that, with not long left, to go and be direct and try to make things happen,” he said.
“It felt good. When you’re playing you don’t think about it but after you let it sink in and it’s like ‘I just played in a World Cup’ – it’s crazy.”