England manager Gareth Southgate announced his 26-man squad for 2022 FIFA World Cup. James Maddison earns a call to the national team after a gap of three years. Ivan Toney misses out on the flight to Qatar.
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Young English squad for the main event
Southgate has summoned 13 players who will be making their world cup debut at Qatar and there are 3 more players set to appear in their first ever major tournament with senior team. The Three Lions squad have an average age of 26.4 years. Marcus Rashford, Callum Wilson, Ben White and Kyle Walker make it to the final squad list. Kalvin Philips selection raised a few eyebrows with the Man City midfielder missing out the last two months with injury. Harry Maguire also makes it to Qatar after struggling to get minutes under his belt with United.
Jadon Sancho didn’t make a cut to Southgate’s final squad. Tammy Abraham, Ward-Prowse, Jarrod Bowen, Mings and Fikayo Tomori are some of the notable omissions from England squad.
Southgate speaking about the squad and their chances
When asked about Maddison’s inclusion, Southgate said: “He is playing really well. We think he can give us something slightly different to the attacking players that we’ve got. He’s playing as good as any of the attacking players in this country. He is a little bit different to the others. I think we could need that.”
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Southgate analysed their chances at Qatar with the squad they have in their disposal. His squad consists of players who are capable of playing in multiple positions. The gaffer will look to take advantage of his squad’s versatility.
“We’ve wanted to make sure we have the balance right. In this day and age squad is more important than ever, with five subs you can change almost half your team,” Southgate said.
“You want different things at different stages of matches and at different stages of the tournament. We’ve had to cover a couple of players that aren’t fully match fit, so having 26 meant we were able to take some risks we weren’t able to with 23. We think we have the cover we need, we are lighter on depth in some areas than others in our country, but we think we have everything covered.”
England’s 26-man World Cup squad for Qatar
Goalkeepers : Jordan Pickford (Everton/England), Nick Pope (Newcastle/England), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal/England).
Defenders : Harry Maguire (Manchester United/England), Luke Shaw (Manchester United/England), Eric Dier (Tottenham/England), John Stones (Manchester City/England), Kyle Walker (Manchester City/England), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle/England), Conor Coady (Everton/England), Ben White (Arsenal/England), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool/England).
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund/Germany), Mason Mount (Chelsea/England), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea/England), Declan Rice (West Ham/England), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool/England), Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City/England).
Forwards : James Maddison (Leicester/England), Phil Foden (Manchester City/England), Jack Grealish (Manchester City/England), Harry Kane (Tottenham/England), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal/England), Raheem Sterling (Chelsea/England), Callum Wilson (Newcastle/England), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United/England).
Also read: Wales 26-man Squad Announced for 2022 FIFA World Cup
