England drop Foden, Greenwood for COVID-19 breaches

LONDON (AP):

England players Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood have been dropped for today’s game against Denmark after breaching coronavirus rules in Iceland.

Foden and Greenwood both made their England debuts in the 1-0 victory over Iceland in the Nations League on Saturday.

However, they will return to England from Reykjavik rather than travelling to Copenhagen yesterday after a social media video was published in Iceland, purporting to show the players meeting women from outside the team bubble.

“Unfortunately, this morning it was brought to my attention that two of the boys have broken the COVID guidelines in terms of our secure bubble,” England coach Gareth Southgate said. “So we had to decide very quickly that they couldn’t have any interaction with the rest of the team and wouldn’t be able to travel to training.”

Southgate said also that the players did not join the rest of the squad for breakfast yesterday.

“They have been naive,” said Southgate, who was unable to confirm if the 18-year-old Greenwood and 20-year-old Foden had left the team hotel in Iceland.

The England travelling group, which is regularly tested for COVID-19, was exempt from the Icelandic requirements to quarantine for five days on arrival.

“Given the procedures we have to follow now, they will have to travel back to England,” Southgate said. “What is clear, there was a breach of the COVID guidelines. We have spent so long getting those measures in places.”