Gareth Southgate whittled down the many quality candidates for England’s World Cup squad down to a 26-man squad. Given how they came racing out of the traps in Qatar, few are quibbling with the manager’s squad selections now, but some very decent players missed out.
England are the now joint-second favourites with the bookmakers to win the 2022 World Cup after reaching the semi-finals last time out. To underline the healthy state the English game is in, you only have to look at some of the brilliant footballers that have been left at home.
Here’s an XI of quality players that didn’t make it into England’s squad for Qatar 2022, arranged in a 4-3-3 formation.
GK: Dean Henderson
It’s easy to forget now that Henderson was named ahead of Aaron Ramsdale for the Euro 2020 squad, and that didn’t seem massively controversial at the time. He had to withdraw due to a hip problem and was subsequently left fuming by his lack of opportunities at Old Trafford last term.
But back between the sticks, Henderson is reminding us he’s a pretty handy shot-stopper. The Manchester United loanee has conceded a lot of goals at Nottingham Forest this season, but he’s also made a fair few saves – only David Raya, Jordan Pickford and Bernd Leno have registered more in the Premier League in 2022-23 so far.
RB: Reece James
The Chelsea man would’ve been a surefire inclusion, which is no mean feat given how stacked Southgate’s options are at right-back. James reportedly fought tooth and nail to regain fitness in time for Qatar, but it wasn’t to be.
He’s one of seven players from England’s Euro 2020 squad last summer to miss out at the World Cup – but still just 22 years of age, we’re absolutely certain we’ll be seeing James represent the Three Lions in many more future tournaments.
READ: England’s 7 Euro 2020 squad members not going to Qatar
CB: Fikayo Tomori
Arguably the most controversial omission by Southgate – Tomori hasn’t been in brilliant form this season but he was absolutely stellar as AC Milan ended their decade-long wait for the Scudetto last term.
The centre-back might’ve been at the World Cup regardless, had he not made his England debut back in November 2019. Tomori was born in Calgary and represented Canada at Under-20 level. Penny for his thoughts as he watches on from home this winter.
CB: Chris Smalling
“I still have a massive appetite to go [to another World Cup] and every time there is a squad call-up I am…
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