By Chris Wright
As was foretold in the prophecy, Roy Hodgson has announced the names of the 23 English men; ruddy of cheek and stout of constitution, of which he plans to take to the World Cup this summer.
Coming via the official FA website, the England squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is as follows…
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Ben Foster, Fraser Forster.
Defenders: Leighton Baines , Gary Cahill , Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, Chris Smalling.
Midfielders: Ross Barkley, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Frank Lampard, James Milner , Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshere.
Attackers: Rickie Lambert, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Welbeck.
On stand-by: John Ruddy, Jon Flanagan, John Stones, Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Andy Carroll, Jermain Defoe.
Exactly one quarter of England’s outfield players have less than five caps. Dwell on that for a second. And there’s no defensive midfielder.
As for the squad itself, it’s as we expected: standard fare. Little shocked that Michael Carrick isn’t making the trip as one of the older heads, but it’s hardly like he’s indispensable.
Any thoughts?
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The new England 2014 World Cup kit is available from JD Sports.
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Elsewhere, the England Team’s Facebook page announced the squad using a neat graphic, though it does feature one of the worst photoshop jobs we’ve ever seen.
Notice anything weird about Phil Jones? Weirder than usual, we mean…
That’s right, they’ve just tacked Phil Jones’ face onto James Milner’s body.
Rubbish.