England defender Ben White returned home from the FIFA World Cup 2022 following a bust-up with assistant coach Steve Holland, according to reports. 

Although the English FA has said that White’s return was due to “personal reasons”, it is understood that he had an exchange of words with Holland before the game with USMNT

The Arsenal defender has not played a single game for the Three Lions in the World Cup in spite of having a great season with his club. He also reportedly struggled to get along with his teammates in the England squad. 

Also read: England vs France FIFA World Cup 2022: Head-to-head, stats, predicted line-ups and formations

Holland and White exchanged words in front of the rest of the squad when the latter turned up for a team meeting before the Group B clash with USMNT without knowing some important information about his personal statistics. 

Reports say that he also lacked knowledge about the USMNT which Southgate and Holland expected him to know. The 25-year-old was subsequently released from the squad with mutual agreement between him and the FA, and will not be returning with them for the rest of the tournament.

Three Lions will be facing Les Bleus in the quarter-final of the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Sunday, December 11.  

In the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, they were knocked out by France in the semi-finals, missing a golden opportunity to play the final of the greatest football tournament on the planet. 

Also read: FIFA World Cup 2022: What is Gareth Southgate’s anti-Mbappe plan?

This time, they will look to turn the result around in their favour, but they key in it is to stop France’s in-form striker Kylian Mbappe, who is already the tournament’s top scorer with five goals. 

According to reports, Gareth Southgate has also prepared an anti-Mbappe plan that he and his staff have been working on for the last two years. Will he be able to stop the French speedster? Only time will tell.