Dele Alli declares himself fit to play for England against Colombia

Posted Saturday, June 30, 2018 by Skysports.com

Dele Alli declares himself fit to play for England against Colombia
Dele Alli could return to the England side against Colombia

Dele Alli has declared himself fit to play for England in their last 16 clash with Colombia on Tuesday.

The midfielder sustained a thigh injury in the first match of the tournament against Tunisia, and did not feature in the other group fixtures against Panama and Belgium.

Alli has been back in England training for a week and, when asked if he was fit to return to Gareth Southgate's side, he said: "Yeah. Obviously after the injury I was frustrated.

"I've been doing a lot of work and I'm back and ready to go."

Southgate made the controversial decision to make eight changes to the England side for their final group match against Belgium, with both teams having already secured a place in the last 16.

England went on to lose the game 1-0, but Alli says the players back the manager's decision and rejected suggestions they have lost momentum as a result of the changes.

"First of all I have to make it clear the whole squad is the 'A team' - we're all in this together", Alli said.

"As players we support any decision the manager makes. We've come here with a big squad and everyone's fighting for their places. It was a great opportunity and I think the boys did well.

"I don't think we lost any momentum."

However, Alli did say England need to bounce back from the defeat to Belgium - which left them second in their group - saying: "It's important we react positively to the defeat. We want to win every game.

"Colombia are a good side but so are we and we've been doing a lot of work. We need to make sure we perform in the game."