England's Ben White leaves Qatar World Cup and is 'not expected to return'
Ben White has gone home from the World Cup due to personal reasons and is not expected to return to the England camp.
The 25-year-old defender, from Poole, was included in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for Qatar following an impressive start to the season with Arsenal. White did not feature in England’s first two Group B matches and missed Tuesday’s 3-0 win against Wales due to illness. A Football Association statement read: “Ben White has left England’s training base in Al Wakrah and returned home for personal reasons. “The Arsenal defender is not expected to return to the squad for the remainder of the tournament. We ask that the player’s privacy is respected at this moment in time.”
The Three Lions came out on top of Group B after a 3-0 victory against Wales on Tuesday, who finished bottom with one point and one goal from their three games in the tournament.
Southgate's side broke the goalless deadlock in style just five minutes after the restart form halftime, after Phil Foden was fouled by Joe Rodon and Marcus Rashford scored a free-kick.
The lead was doubled just moments later, as Foden tucked away Harry Kane’s cross after Rashford had won the ball off Ben Davies on the edge of the Wales box.
England’s reward for topping Group B is a last-16 tie with Senegal on Sunday night. Foden added: “There’s no easy game, you can see that by the group how tough USA was and Iran as well going on to beat Wales, it just goes to show there are no easy games. “We don’t really know them too much, we just have to sit down and review them and be ready for the game.”
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Sengal progressed through the group stage for only the second time in their history after a 2-1 win against Ecuador on Tuesday, finishing second behind the Netherlands in Group A.
The West African nation are ranked 18th in the world - the highest in the continent - and won their first Africa Cup of Nations in 2021.
The furthest Sengal has got in the World Cup previously was the quarter-finals in 2002, which saw the team lose 1-0 to Turkey.
Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly said Senegal wants to "make history together" as they enter the knockout stage, but it will be without some key players.
Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye will serve a one-match suspension after picking up his second booking during the Ecuador match, while Bayern Munich forward Sadio Mane has been ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.