Speaking on making it to the World Cup, Kalvin Phillips said, "It was an awesome feeling."
Kalvin Phillips underwent diligent, painful preparation for eight weeks before a 5 kg weight nearly crushed him on the day of the World Cup while he was nursing a pinned dislocated shoulder to make it to Qatar.
The Manchester City midfielder had been worrying about his World Cup hopes ever since his shoulder dislocated in September and it became clear that he would need an operation to prevent it from doing so again. The midfielder is a crucial component of England's Euro 2020 midfield.
That left Phillips with very little time to get healthy and ready for Qatar, but with the support of City physios, he was able to recover the shoulder sufficiently to play in the Carabao Cup victory over Chelsea before departing for Qatar.
However, Phillips' rigorous training last weekend, as he prepared to take his position on the City bench for the final match before the World Cup against Brentford, nearly meant all that hard work went to waste.
Being the professional that he is, he admitted, "I went to the gym before the game against Brentford and was simply doing heaps of Achilles training on the leg press."
"I went to remove a weight from the rack, but there must have been another trapped behind it. When I pulled it off, it fell directly on my foot and cut me."
I stood there for about ten seconds, wondering, "Oh my gosh, what was that?" I believe the situation would have been much worse if the plate hadn't weighed 5 kg. Think about it! You deserve that for being a professional.
Phillips was a key member of Southgate's squad at Euro 2020 and one of the stars of the competition, but given his limited playing time, he could need to help his team win this match.
Most people would have assumed he was in the squad once he had played for City against Chelsea, which occurred the day before the squad announcement. However, he had to endure a stressful 24 hours due to City and England teammate Kyle Walker, who was also a doubt due to injury.
Just before the squad was named, he called Gareth that morning, he recalled. Kyle had heard about it the day before. Kyle approached me as I entered the gym and informed me that Gareth had just called and said I was
I wondered why he hadn't called me if he was calling all the wounded players to let them know they were involved. Then, around 59, while I was at City, I received a call.
When I asked him how he was, he simply replied, "A lot better after witnessing you play for 40 minutes [against Chelsea]," before informing me that I was participating.
It was an incredible sensation. I notified my immediate family, but I requested them not to tell anyone else because I didn't want anything to leak.
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