Harry Kane hits out at England teammates over raft of withdrawals

Eight players withdrew from interim boss Lee Carsley's squad ahead of England's double-header against Greece and the Republic of Ireland this week.

Manchester City pair Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, Chelsea's Cole Palmer and Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were among the drop-outs earlier this week.

But ahead of England's match in Greece – one of Carsley's final games in charge – captain Kane called the withdrawals a "shame" and suggested the January start date of incoming coach Thomas Tuchel was a potential excuse.

"It's a shame this week," Kane said. "It's a tough period of the season and maybe it's been taken advantage of a little bit. I don't really like it, if I'm totally honest. I think England comes before any club situation."

Kane also hailed the work of Gareth Southgate, the former manager, for making playing for England a "joy" and mentioned his concern that such an honour has "started to drift".

"I think the joy to play for England – he (Gareth Southgate) brought that back. Every camp people were excited to come and in camp, people wanted to play for England," he added.

"That is the most important thing. England comes before anything, it comes before club. It's the most important thing you play as a professional footballer. Gareth was hot on that and not afraid to make decisions if that started to drift from certain players."

England are second in Group B2 – three points behind leaders Greece – and are in need of a win at the Olympic Stadium in Athens to stand a chance of automatic promotion to League A.