England vs Wales: Chris Coleman trolls Ray Lewington with 'leaked' team sheet
Lewington yesterday appeared to inadvertently reveal England’s planned line-up for Euro 2016
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Your support makes all the difference.Chris Coleman, the Wales manager, has poked fun at England ahead of the Group B meeting between the two rival nations at this summer’s European Championship.
England assistant manager Ray Lewington yesterday appeared to inadvertently reveal Roy Hodgson’s planned line-up for their opening match against Russia with photographers catching a glimpse of his hand-written notes during training in Chantilly.
Coleman, a close friend of Hodgson and Lewington, elected to make light of the error, which appeared to confirm Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane will start up front on Saturday, by ‘accidentally’ revealing his own line-up for the match against Slovakia.
Instead of Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey, however, the 45-year-old’s playful antics revealed a line-up including Pelé and Diego Maradona in front of George Best, Sócrates and Zico. It stokes up the rivalry ahead of the clash between England and Wales in Lens on 16 June but was friendly in nature.
Meanwhile, Coleman has insisted he will not allow his Wales squad to be “locked up” ahead of their opener this weekend.
“We have not got that cabin fever,” Coleman said. “I don’t want them locked up. I know what our group are like and locking them up is not good. They are not used to it. It’s not like a lockdown every day. It’s not like a prison camp. There are days when we can get away from the hotel, a walk and lunch somewhere different that’s not in the same place every day, three meals a day.
“If they want to go out and have a walk, a coffee to escape the hotel environment, we haven’t got a problem with that. They are not going to be out in the evening. There are times when they know where they need to be.
“We can’t be every day the same thing all the time. We are going to get tired. If we are tired, we don’t do our job properly which means that rubs off on the players.”
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