Kolkata: England gets a huge blow ahead of facing Japan in the Round of 16, as their no.1 performer so far, Jadon Sancho has been called back by his club Borussia Dortmund just before their all important Round of 16 match against Japan at the VYBK in the FIFA U17 World Cup on Tuesday.
In the pre-match press conference England Coach Steve Cooper said, “Jadon Sancho is heading back to Germany. A juge disappointment. We will miss him but there is no looking back. We are disappointed that Dortmund has called him back.”
England coach despite their lethal show so far, are not at all complacent ahead of facing Japan. Cooper said, “Japan is a very good side. They know their plan but we are ready to play at this beautiful stadium.” He added, “We don’t want to call ourselves the favourites. The focus is always the next game. Japan have qualified quite convincingly. It will be a tough game.”
England always had problems in terms of penalty shootouts but Cooper seemed confident that the mindset of this team is different. He said, “Penalty shootouts are part of the game and we have trained to change the mindset. We are ready.”
On being asked about resting the key players in the last game of the Group stage, Cooper said, “We don’t have any first team. We have 20 players who can play at the same level.”
Now it is to see how The British coach fill the void of the most important player of his side. The form of his reserve bench though is a fresh air ahead of facing Japan.