England's World Cup base excites Southgate

England secured their place at next summer's showpiece event with an unconvincing 1-0 win over Slovenia on Thursday.

Southgate takes his side to Lithuania for their final qualifier on Sunday, which is likely to be used a more of an experiment than a serious crunch match.

The FA has already announced back-to-back November friendlies against Germany and Brazil, and a trip to Holland is also in the pipeline before the competition kicks off next June.

Southgate has been on the hunt for the perfect training base in Russia, with the ForRestMix Club in Repino reportedly being settled on.

And the England boss, who played four major tournaments as a player, claims his 23-man squad will have the right surroundings at their temporary home.

"We've obviously had a look at a few different bases, we've got a couple of different options but we're happy with all of those options," Southgate said.

"The most important thing for me is that we have a base that is exclusively ours. I think that gives the opportunity for the players to relax. It's important and I want their families to be able to come in at the right moments.

"Base camps don't win and lose tournament - environment can have a part, but tactical, technical ability on the field will win it.

"So the base camp can mask or be used as an excuse for any number of different things. I think we will create a base camp that the players enjoy being at, within an atmosphere that they will enjoy being a part of it and they are going to have a fantastic life experience.

"I think the World Cup in Russia, from what I saw in the Confederations Cup, will be a really good tournament."