Gareth Southgate has named his final 26-man England squad for Euro 2020. The tournament was supposed to be held last year but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Uefa announced in may that each team will consist of 26 players instead of the usual 23 due to the risk of a covid outbreak and an unusual amount of injuries due to fixture constraints.
Gareth Southgate had a massive task of narrowing it down to 26 players after having selected and dropped many players in his last few squads leading up to the tournament. Southgate was previously supposed to announce his squad on 25th May but instead announced a provisional 33 man squad keeping in mind the English players in the Europa League and Champions League finals. Now the English manager has narrowed it down to 26.
England 26-man Euro 2020 squad -
Goalkeepers: Jordan Henderson, Sam Johnstone, Jordan Pickford
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Chilwell, Conor Coady, Reece James, Harry Maguire, Tryone Mings, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham, Jordan Henderson, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice
Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Jaden Sancho, Raheem Sterling
Players Cut from the initial 33-man squad: Jesse Lingard, James Ward-Prowse, Ollie Watkins, Mason Greenwood, Ben Godfrey, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale
England are in the group consisting of World Cup finalists Croatia along with Scotland and the Czech Republic. Croatia knocked England out of the World Cup Semi-Final. There is a lot of pressure on England to perform well in this tournament to follow up their great run in the World Cup. In the previous edition of the Euros England were knocked out by Iceland in what was considered as the worst performance by an English team in a major tournament. England are likely to at least reach the knockouts whether they finish first or second in their group remains to be seen. Failure to make it past the group stages would be a major upset.
Mason Greenwood was in the 33-man squad but due to an underlying injury has withdrawn himself from the squad which gave Southgate one less thing to worry about. That would've been a big blow to the English management he was initially going to be in the final squad
A lot of reports suggested that Trent Alexander-Arnold would be left out of the squad after not being in England's last squad. Despite the speculation, the Liverpool full-back is in the squad. Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson make the cut despite having missed the end of the season through injuries
The big talking point is Southgate taking 4 right-backs to the tournament. Walker could slot in as a 3rd centre back if Southgate does go for that system. James on the other hand has played in Midfield before. So that makes 2 of the right backs capable of playing other positions which ticks the flexibility box. Bukayo Saka is presumably in the squad for flexibility as he can play on either wing as a No. 10 and as a left-back.
All the omissions were expected apart from Jesse Lingard. The West Ham Midfielder has been on fire in the 2nd half of the Premier League. Taking 4 right backs by leaving out an in-form Jesse Lingard has raised a few eyebrows.
On paper, this team has more informed individuals than the Squad that reached the World cup semi-finals in 2018. A Semifinal finish will be the least expected of this England squad. It is now all up to which system and personal Southgate goes for eventually.
England will have 2 friendlies against Austria and Romania to test the waters before the big occasion.
To check regular updates stay tuned to Euro 2020
