England captain Harry Kane backed coach Thomas Tuchel's decision to rest him and ten other players from the Three Lions' first March friendly against Uruguay.
Tuchel named Kane as part of a 35-man squad on Friday but said the Bayern Munich striker and several others would join the camp later ahead of the second Wembley friendly, against Japan.
Speaking after scoring his 31st league goal of the season in Bayern's 4-0 win over Union Berlin on Saturday, Kane said the rest would help him and his teammates through the busy football schedule.
"I think it makes sense when we look at the April schedule, May and then going into the World Cup, trying to use this time now to be as fresh as possible in that period," the 32-year-old said.
"I think it's a really sensible decision, when you're probably not going to play both games anyway.
"For me and the boys who get a bit of time off, you have to use it wisely, you have to stay fit, stay sharp, but just kind of mentally rest and get ready, like I said, for a really busy schedule when we get back."
Tuchel said Kane, Dean Henderson, Dan Burn, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Nico O'Reilly, Eliott Anderson, Declan Rice, Morgan Rogers, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka would be rested.
England play Uruguay on Friday and face Japan on Monday.