The Croatian football team say they are afraid to play Covid-stricken Scotland in tonight’s Euro 2020 crunch match over fears that their players could be taken out of later stages of the tournament by being forced to self isolate if they are exposed to the virus.
Confusion is enveloping the competition over Uefa rules that state when players have to isolate for close contact with a Covid carrier, after Scotland’s Bill Gilmour was forced to quarantine for ten days following a positive test.
England medics decided to put Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell, who play with Gilmour at Chelsea, into quarantine as a precaution after all three hugged at the end of Friday’s clash and met again in the tunnel area after the game.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic admitted all of his players have been ‘afraid’ amid the ‘psychological pressure and uncertainty’ caused by isolation rules, but the full squad have tested negative every third day at the tournament.
England manager Gareth Southgate said a final decision on whether Mount and Chilwell could play in tonight’s match against the Czech Republic would be taken this morning, with talks ongoing with Public Health England.
But Scotland’s players will not be self isolating – with no players from either Scotland or England needing to self quarantine under Uefa rules, because none are defined as ‘close contacts’ under Public Health England rules.
This is despite team-mates sharing the same dressing room and hotel as Gilmour and hugging each other after the match, while captain Andy Robertson and midfielder McGinn played table tennis with Gilmour over the weekend.
The UK Government advises the public to self-isolate if they have has had ‘face-to-face contact including being coughed on or having a face-to-face conversation within one metre’ of someone who has tested positive.
England players all returned further negative tests yesterday, and a frustrated Southgate said: ‘I don’t want to cause a drama for Scotland but if you’re all in the dressing room together where does everything stand?
Billy Gilmour was seen hugging two Chelsea team-mates, Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount, after Friday’s match at Wembley
England stars Mason Mount (pictured here with Gilmour on Friday night) and Ben Chilwell have been forced to self-isolate
‘I don’t know is the honest answer to that. Our medical people are dealing with all of this. I was on the training pitch when I found out, so we’d just literally finished training.
‘In terms of the team, we’ll need to go through details with the players in the morning really, so we’ll have to know by first thing in the morning of their availability and if not we’ll just have to play on without them.’
Gareth Southgate called for footballers to get their jabs three months ago ‘but was shouted down’
England manager Gareth Southgate during training drills at Hotspur Way Training Ground in London yesterday
Gareth Southgate called for footballers to be vaccinated three months ago amid concerns over the risks of contracting Covid-19 while playing in the pandemic.
The England manager said yesterday: ‘In terms of the vaccinations, you need to go back to my suggestions in March around that where I was fairly firmly shouted down for daring to suggest anything of the sort.
‘I did propose it but at the time I also said I totally understood where we stand in the pecking order for vaccinations. In actual fact the vaccinations wouldn’t stop you catching the virus so it might not necessarily have stopped this situation in fairness.’
According to the Daily Telegraph, Southgate added: ‘I just made an observation that I thought given the tournament, given that we were asking professional sportspeople to go into these sorts of events and travel, and go back home to their families, that there would be a point where they were at greater risk of catching the virus than others.
‘But, look, that ship’s sailed and, as I said, even if we had the vaccine – you know I’m old enough, I’ve had both vaccines now – I’m told you can still catch it, the different variants, it’s just less dangerous.
‘The reality is moving forward, I don’t think we’ll be in a situation where a positive test rules you out because I think we’ll be living with it, like we’ve lived with flu.’
He added: ‘I’ve been updated as regularly as I can be which is every hour or so when there’s a little bit more information and we have to accept whatever the situation is and adapt to it. That’s the world we’re all living in, across every family and every sport and every business.’
And former England goalkeeper David Seaman told ITV’s Good Morning Britain today: ‘Scotland have come in on a coach together, they’re in a dressing room, so I just don’t understand why it’s two England players that have to isolate… and no one from Scotland, because surely the guys from Scotland have had a lot more contact with Billy Gilmour.’
It comes as England qualified for the knockout phase last night without kicking a ball on a day that Mount and Chilwell went into isolation after Gilmour tested positive three days after the Scotland game at Wembley.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain this morning, celebrity GP Dr Hilary Jones pointed out that there was an argument to say the whole Scotland team should be self-isolating and not playing tonight.
He said the incubation period for Covid-19 is five days, which is potentially why the England players will not be playing in tonight’s match after coming in contact with Gilmour on Friday night.
Dr Hilary said: ‘If you look at the definition of close contact it’s 15 consecutive minutes within two metres of contact with someone who’s tested positive, so they could argue it wasn’t 15 consecutive minutes.
‘CDC in America say it could be 15 minutes over a whole 24 hour period in which case the whole Scotland team would have been exposed so the Scotland team should be self-isolating in theory.’
‘In theory, they should self-isolate for longer and they shouldn’t be playing tonight and they should be separated from the England team but we know that’s not going to happen don’t we?
‘Because football seems to not abide by any of the rules. If you look at the crowds, if you look at what’s going on in the pitch, there’s close contact all the time it’s making a nonsense of what we’re asking everybody else to do.’
And Health Secretary Matt Hancock told ITV’s Good Morning Britain today: ‘The rules, with respect to the Scotland team playing in Scotland are written by and a matter for Public Health Scotland, and I’m assured that the Scotland team are following them assiduously and that is a matter for the Scotland manager.
‘But I also very much hope we can keep this competition going because it’s bringing joy to so many people.’
He added: ‘Throughout the pandemic we’ve had specific rules for elite sports to make sure that those sports can carry on.
‘All the way through this winter, the Premier League continued for instance, the Scottish Football League continued, and it did so by having specific testing regimes, and specific rules around it, and I’m assured that the Scotland team are following those rules.’
Scotland boss Steve Clarke was seen speaking to Gilmour face-to-face following the match at Wembley on Friday night
Billy Gilmour (far right) celebrates with Scotland teammates after he helped his side to a 0-0 draw against England on Friday
The Scottish Football Association announced yesterday morning that 20-year-old midfielder Gilmour had returned a positive Covid-19 result and would miss tonight’s crunch Group D encounter with Croatia.
Gilmour helped boost Scotland’s qualification hopes with a man-of-the-match display in Friday’s 0-0 draw at Wembley, where he interacted with Chelsea team-mates Mount and Chilwell.
The fact Gilmour’s positive result appears to be having a bigger impact on the Three Lions than Scotland has left Gareth Southgate confused, but any stress over qualification was removed by results elsewhere yesterday.
Four of the best third-placed teams at the rearranged Euros progress to the knockout phase, with England’s four-point haul now guaranteed to put them in that bracket whatever happens against the pool-leading Czechs.
Belgium and Holland topped their respective groups with victories against Finland and North Macedonia yesterday, while Denmark beat Russia to progress and Austria saw off Ukraine to also finish second in their group.
That left Finland and Ukraine in third place in Groups B and C respectively on three points each – meaning England, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic and France can celebrate reaching the last 16.
Southgate is braced to be without Mount and Chilwell for tonight’s match, despite the pair producing negative lateral-flow tests on Monday afternoon following negative results in Sunday’s round of UEFA pre-match PCR tests.
Asked about the duo’s availability for the group decider, the England manager said: ‘Well, we don’t know at the moment.
‘There’s obviously got to be quite a doubt, but there’s still a lot of discussions and investigations going on behind the scenes, so at the moment they’re isolating and we just have to find out over the last 12 hours or so.’
Prince William will be at Wembley tonight.
A PHE spokesman said that it was ‘working with the FA to identify close contacts of Billy Gilmour and any risk to other players and staff’, and indicated any decision to tell players from the England team to isolate was made by the Football Association.
Billy Gilmour shakes hands with Scotland teammate Stuart Armstrong (pictured left) after he is substituted during his side’s 0-0 draw with England at Wembley. Referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (pictured right) speaks to Gilmour during the match
Southgate, who had been due to have Mount alongside him at the pre-match press conference yesterday evening, said: ‘We had worked with the players this morning on the training pitch so then of course we find out when we finish that this is the situation.
‘I can’t say it isn’t disruptive. We don’t really know at this point whether they might be OK for (Tuesday) or they could be out for 10 days so there are a lot of unknowns frankly at this moment in time.’
Among the many things Southgate is trying to get his head around is how England are having to prepare without two players whereas Scotland have avoided further absences despite Gilmour’s positive test being in their camp.
Steve Clarke’s men have been under the PHE umbrella, having stayed in Darlington and used Middlesbrough’s training ground – the same facilities used by England during their pre-Euros training base.
Ex-England striker Gary Lineker shared confusion about the differing impact on the sides following news that Mount and Chilwell were isolating.
‘This is odd,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘They may have had close contact with Billy Gilmour, but if they continue to test negative surely they can play.
‘Otherwise surely every single Scottish player, who all hugged Gilmour after the game, won’t be allowed to play either. Makes no sense.’
But Southgate – who expressed sympathy for Scotland counterpart Clarke following Gilmour’s positive test – is not letting his attention waver, saying in tournaments ‘you have to adapt, you have to respond’.
Asked why it just Mount and Chilwell, who were pictured embracing Gilmour on Friday, having to isolate, the England boss said: ‘I don’t know all of the factors behind that.
‘Clearly it’s nothing to do with being on the pitch so that’s why there is no issue with teams training, for example.
‘Going to when the Premier League restarted training and matches were shown to be a situation where there weren’t contacts for long enough for that to be a risk, so we’re just waiting to hear more information at this moment in time.’
He added: ‘It would be something to do with chatting after the game, but I have no idea of all the detail. That’s why we’ve taken the decision at this point to isolate them. That’s why we’re having to have the discussions with Public Health England, as I understand it.’
Southgate will, though, make sure England’s players are reminded of their duties. ‘After what’s happened, I don’t think they will need us to tell them but for sure we will,’ he said.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic (pictured in Glasgow yesterday) has admitted his squad has been gripped by Covid anxiety
‘I think you can see evidence at every match of interactions. I think these sorts of things do serve as a reminder that we are under a different sort of spotlight to most parts of the community and at higher risk of being forced to miss matches or whatever else.’
While Gilmour has entered ten days of isolation ahead of the winner-takes-all Group D fixture between Croatia and Scotland tonight, no close contacts have been established within the remainder of Steve Clarke’s squad.
Croatia’s Dalic feels wider Covid regulations have already given his country a raw deal at the tournament and hs is on high alert in case of any further complications.
‘There is a pressure for all of us, lasting for a month relating to this situation,’ said the 54-year-old, assessing playing the tournament within a pandemic.
‘Every third day, we go through the tests. There is psychological pressure and uncertainty. So we are afraid something would happen, they test positive and we all end up isolating and having those serious issues.
‘I hope nobody else is positive. I don’t want this to expand. Hopefully, it’s just a single case.
‘We are concerned but we have to do this match. We have to play and try to win the three points.
Croatia face Scotland in a winner-takes-all Group D fixture at Hampden Park tonight
‘We have just arrived in Glasgow, had lunch and we are due to have a meeting. But I don’t expect anyone to say they don’t want to play.
‘All of them are afraid but, nonetheless, we have to play, concentrate on the game and forget everything else. That’s how the situation is for this entire Euros. All of us have been negative until now.
‘We are taking all the precautions and implementing all the measures. But we just have to see what happens.’
The Scottish Government were bemused when Croatia cited concerns over the strictness of close-contact regulations as a reason for abandoning a planned training camp in St Andrews.
Dalic’s squad have instead trained at Rovinj in their homeland and flown to the UK for each of their three group matches.
A 1-0 defeat to England and a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic means Croatia have to beat Scotland to progress. And Dalic is upset that quarantine rules will see very few of their fans inside Hampden.
‘We always knew the third match would be decisive,’ he said. ‘This is our last chance and we’re going to try to take it.
‘I keep saying it — we are at a disadvantage. We are harmed because we don’t have our fans here. We are much better with our supporters behind us. It’s not fair.
‘We have to travel, we are in isolation all the time — and they have told us if one of us is positive then we all go into isolation. We’re afraid of all these things and being told we are not allowed to do this and that.
‘I would not like to comment and say something that isn’t related to the field. The conditions should be the same for all, but they are not the same for all.
‘Nonetheless, I wish Gilmour a good recovery and that nobody else ends up positive with Covid because that would make things difficult.’
Dalic doesn’t expect Scotland to be critically weakened by the Chelsea youngster’s absence. ‘Any player missing is something that is not good for the team,’ he added. ‘He didn’t start in the initial line-up but played the last match.
‘Scotland have other players, maybe more experienced players, that will replace him. So I don’t think it’s a great blow to Scotland because they are a good team with great players.
‘They have shown they are in good form. They drew with Holland 2-2 and only lost a goal in the last minutes. Against England, they played well away from home in front of the English fans. They have a lot of motivation, a lot of self-confidence.
‘Against the Czech Republic, they created some very good chances and didn’t deserve to lose.This will be a very difficult game. Scotland are a strong team, they can be physical and they have a lot of power.
‘Even so, we want to achieve success and will be fighting very hard to do it. We will have to be patient and take our chances.’
An FA spokesman said: ‘As a precaution at this time and in consultation with Public Health England, Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount are isolating after interaction with Scotland player Billy Gilmour at Friday’s match.
‘The pair will be kept away from the rest of the England players and wider support team, pending further discussions with PHE.’
Separately, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the final of the tournament should not be held in Wembley given the renewed surge in coronavirus cases in England.
Speaking in Berlin: ‘I support ensuring that the final does not take place in a country where the risk of infection is of course very high.’
