Captain Kane blasts England no-shows, Ranieri back in business, Prem ref drugs claim

England captain Harry Kane is not happy with players who pulled out of the Nations League matches, and Claudio Ranieri is heading to Roma

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Harry Kane has take a shot at the players who pulled out of England duty. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:29am, 14 Nov 2024

If Tropical Storm Toraji behaves itself, and there’s reason to doubt it won’t, then Hong Kong will be taking on the Philippines this evening, as the Fifa international break gets into full swing.

The weather has already hit sport in the city though, with the final three races of Wednesday night’s Happy Valley meeting cancelled, but not before Zac Purton added another two winners to his seemingly never-ending list.

There was also time for Siobhan Haughey to have a new swimming pool named after her. Overnight things continued to bubble along before the Nation League gets under way, although a row maybe brewing in the England camp, which is where we’ll start this morning.

Play if you’re able, says Kane

Frustrated England captain Harry Kane has told the eight players who pulled out of the Nation’s League squad for games against Greece and Ireland that country must always come before club.

Claudio Ranieri, arrives at the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Fiumicino, near Rome. Photo: EPA-EFE

England have to win in Athens on Thursday to have any chance of being promoted, but eight players, including the likes of Cole Palmer, Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka withdrew at the start of the week.

There have been suggestions some players have taken advantage of this being Lee Carsley’s last squad before Thomas Tuchel takes over in January, and Kane said he thought “maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit”.

“I think England comes before anything,” he said. “England comes before club. Gareth [Southgate] was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players.”

Coote drug allegations

Football officials said they were taking new allegations against David Coote “very seriously” and Uefa said it had suspended the Premier League referee.