Laura Woods admitted that she was left "pinching herself" after Graeme Souness' comments about England during ITV ’s World Cup coverage.
The presenter was accompanied by a team of football icons for the channel’s coverage of France's group-stage clash with Denmark on Saturday afternoon. She was joined by ex- Liverpool man Souness, Arsenal icon Ian Wright and former Wales star Hal Robson-Kanu.
Ahead of the reigning world champions’ clash with the Danes, time was afforded to discuss England’s dismal draw with the USA on Friday evening. Souness, a 54-time Scotland international, called for calm in response to the stalemate and that the draw wasn’t as bad of a result as many thought.
He said: “This is rich coming from a Scotsman, I wouldn’t be too hard on your team [England]. I think you’re up against a really good USA team.
“I was watching the game last night looking at them. You know when you watch teams that come into soccer, football, late, they didn’t look like that last night. There’s a naivety to teams that are new to this level of football.
“I thought the USA looked like a really experienced team with pedigree. I thought they were really, really good last night. I wouldn’t be too hard on yourselves.
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“That was a good team you were playing and I have to say it, it’s not just English teams that do it, British teams do it: ‘We’ve only drawn with the USA’. Give them credit, they’re a really good team right now.”
Those comments had Woods particularly surprised considering Souness’ international allegiance and fired a cheeky comment his way. She said: “I just have to pinch myself because I think that was a compliment from Graeme Souness to England.”
The exchange continued with Souness claiming that he cannot return to his homeland for Christmas, whilst Woods jokingly suggested that his comments were “a bit weird”.
England are in a relatively positive position ahead of their final World Cup group game against fellow home nation Wales. The Three Lions only need to avoid a heavy defeat by four goals or more to progress to the round of 16.
Whilst Souness wasn’t left to particularly downbeat with England’s draw against the USA, he has recently been a severe critic of Harry Kane following the opening win against Iran. He said: “My view is that Harry Kane was selfish against Iran on Monday - staying on the field for 27 minutes after suffering an ankle injury, even though England were 3-0 up.”
" Gareth Southgate needed to protect Kane from himself there but failed to do so. Kane has historical issues with his ankles and the injury was serious enough for him to need a scan but he needlessly played on. I know from experience that the ankle can be complex."
