Gareth Southgate feels privileged to be anywhere near a century of matches at the England helm as he prepares for a repeat of the fixture where it all began for him seven years ago. Having rebuffed the Football Association’s initial approach after Euro 2016, the then Under-21s boss was parachuted into the hotseat after Sam Allardyce’s swift, ignominious exit. Southgate’s first game in temporary charge was a World Cup qualifier against Malta, with Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli securing a 2-0 win in October 2016. Friday sees the Mediterranean minnows return to Wembley for the first time since then – a night when the England boss will take charge of his 90th senior international. “I know the numbers and I am aware that Bobby Robson was 95 games,” Southgate said. “If you had said to me the first time we played Malta that would be the case, I don’t know how I would have thought about that. “It has been a privilege to take as many games as we have and we have had some wonderful experiences and incredible nights along that journey. “I am very happy to be in with the sort of names that have managed that many games.” I am very happy to be in with the sort of names that have managed that many games Gareth Southgate Southgate is on track to become the first England manager to oversee a century of matches since Sir Alf Ramsey – a feat that could be achieved in the Euro 2024 knockout phase. But silverware in Germany rather than individual milestones is the only focus ahead of potentially his final tournament in charge. England sealed progress to next year’s Euros with two games to spare, yet a packed Wembley crowd will still be in attendance on Friday for the home game of an unbeaten year. Southgate wants to bring the curtain down in style against Malta after a disruptive build-up in which five of his players withdrew through injury, two were absent for personal reasons and three uncapped players were called up. “We want to play well,” Southgate said. “We’ve got close to 90,000 people coming – this is the last time we play at home in this calendar year. “Our performances across the calendar year have been very good and we want to finish the year well. “There are some individual things we would like to see and like to learn a little bit more about. “But clearly that is tempered by the sort of test that is going to be. “There are specifics for this game where you are going to have to break down a packed defence and we have to make sure we have the players in the starting team that can unlock those doors as well. “So, you are always trying to achieve a number of different objectives. “It has been a complicated week in that the five days leading into the camp, we lost a lot of players. “Each day, somebody else seemed to go so there has been a lot of change within the squad and it has not been easy to get all of the players on the pitch every day. “Tuesday, we hardly did anything training-wise so it has been a much shorter week and we are pleased with where the team is for the game and we are looking forward to seeing them play.” England complete this year’s schedule away to North Macedonia on Monday, before attention turns to the Euro 2024 draw in Hamburg on December 2. Preparations are well under way and Southgate says winning is “implicit in everything” he does as he looks to turn seven years of learnings into silverware. “I guess the biggest thing I have experienced is that you take charge of one of the most high-pressured jobs in world football and had to manage some of the biggest matches in world football,” he said. “There is only a World Cup final that we haven’t done. “You understand what that means in the longer term, in terms of what you have learned, what you have taken from those experiences. “And the fact we have dealt with those challenges and that pressure, which can sometimes really inhibit people and, frankly, a lot of people could not cope with that pressure, so I feel pleased we have shown that we can do that. “I am sure there will have been a lot of doubts some years ago whether I was capable of doing that and, of course, there will be other doubts people will have and that will always be the same. “You will always have questions asked of you but as a person, and as a coach, you will always learn through every experience you have and every day will throw a different challenge and you are learning all the time.” Read More Gareth Southgate highlights Sir Bobby Charlton legacy ahead of Wembley tribute How Gareth Southgate can make England vs Malta exciting If England were playing Malta in my front garden, I’d close the curtains Jude Bellingham and Levi Colwill injuries add to England absences Sir Alex Ferguson and Prince William among mourners at Sir Bobby Charlton’s funeral Alexander-Arnold studying Gerrard and Pirlo to master midfield role

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The Washington DC judge in the election interference case against Donald Trump has responded to his legal team’s request that she recuse herself from the case with a stern warning. The former president’s legal team argued that Judge Tanya Chutkan should leave the case because of statements she had made when sentencing defendants for taking part in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. The lawyers for the former president argued that Judge Chutkan “agreed with portions” of a sentencing memo for one of the January 6 defendants which “wrongly placed blame on President Trump and complained that he had not been charged”. The defence lawyer for the defendant referred to in the motion said in a sentencing memo that “those voices, including the voice of the then-president himself, had convinced persons such as Mr. Palmer that the election was fraudulent and that they must take action to stop the transition of the presidency. . . . While many of the people who participated in the Capitol riot will be going to prison, the architects of that horrific event will likely never be charged with any criminal offense”. The Trump lawyers added that “although Judge Chutkan correctly noted that she does not have any influence on charging decisions, her ... comments stating ‘you have made a very good point . . . that the people who exhorted you and encouraged you and rallied you to go and take action and to fight have not been charged’ and ‘you have a point, that the people who may be the people who planned this and funded it and encouraged it haven’t been charged, but that’s not a reason for you to get a lower sentence’ reflect her apparent opinion that President Trump’s conduct ... occurred, and supports charges”. “Otherwise, she would not have characterized the point as ‘very good’,” they said. “Judge Chutkan’s statement that ‘I have my opinions’ suggests that in her view—formed almost two years before the initiation of this matter—President Trump should be charged,” the Trump legal team added. After that filing, Judge Chutkan ordered that the prosecution, the legal team of Special Counsel Jack Smith, should file any opposing arguments within three days. She also warned the Trump legal team that they must notify the special counsel’s office before filing that kind of motion or they might risk that later motions be “denied without prejudice”. “Upon consideration of Defendant’s 50 Motion for Recusal, it is hereby ORDERED that the government shall file any opposition no later than September 14, 2023, and the defense shall file any reply within three calendar days from the filing date of the government’s opposition,” the judge wrote in the order on Monday. “All other deadlines set by the court remain in effect.” “Defense counsel is reminded of the requirement to confer with opposing counsel before filing any motion and to indicate whether the motion is opposed ...Future motions that fail to comply with that requirement may be denied without prejudice,” she added. Read More Biden slammed for falsely claiming he visited Ground Zero the day after 9/11 Trump lashes out at Biden over prisoner swap deal with Iran after demanding Jan 6 judge recuse herself - live Putin calls Trump’s laundry list of criminal charges ‘persecution’