The Big Question: Which 23-Man England Squad Would You Take To The World Cup?

Chris Wright

15th, May 2018

3 Comments

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Ahead of the big official announcement on Wednesday, Pies thought we’d have a crack at whittling down our own England squad for the 2018 World Cup.

No waffle, no flim-flam, no player-by-player deliberation; just the 23 men that we’d currently take to Russia if we were thrust into Gareth Southgate’s size 9 brogues for some reason…

Goalkeepers

1. Jordan Pickford
2. Jack Butland
3. Nick Pope

Defenders

4. Kyle Walker
5. Ryan Bertrand
6. Phil Jones
7. John Stones
8. Gary Cahill
9.  Harry Maguire
10. Trent Alexander-Arnold
11. Ashley Young

Midfielders

12. Eric Dier
13. Jordan Henderson
14. Fabian Delph
15. Jonjo Shelvey
16. Adam Lallana
17. Raheem Sterling
18. Dele Alli
19. Jesse Lingard

Forwards

20. Harry Kane
21. Marcus Rashford
22. Jamie Vardy
23. Danny Welbeck

Yep, that’s it (until you ask us again in half-an-hour’s time). Decent mix of balance and cover, youthful exuberance and proven quality – and no Jack Wilshere. Deal with it, chump!

We’d love to have slotted James Milner in but, alas, it doesn’t look like he’ll be un-retiring any soon, and we also dithered over including Ademola Lookman (why the bloody hell not?) but just couldn’t wangle him a place on the plane.

Same goes for Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jamaal Lascelles. Maybe next time.

What sayeth thou Pies fans? If you had to pick your England World Cup squad right here, right now – who would be making the cut?

Feel free to copy+paste the following as a template then leave your squad in the comments for perusal…

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Posted in England, Opinion, World Cup

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3 Comments

  1. Gamblino says:

    Explain Welbeck! Just can’t see what he adds would rather another midfielder as so many of them attacking. Or a random big man like Carroll for the sake of it.

    • Chris Wright says:

      I’d take him as a wild card. Always plays better for England than he does at club level. Good option to bring on if chasing a goal.

      I’ve joked about taking Crouch and Carroll in the past and would be sorely tempted, but the sad reality is that both would be redundant in this ENG team.

  2. rakibulkst says:

    England has announced their final 23-man squad for 2018 FIFA World Cup and there have been quite a few surprises with Jack Wilshere

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