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England World Cup 2022 squad confirmed

Gareth Southgate has confirmed his 26-player England squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The players who have made the cut were revealed at 2pm, after weeks of jostling for position and speculation over who will be boarding the plane to Qatar.

There had been rumblings over whether James Maddison, Ivan Toney, James Ward-Prowse, Jarrod Bowen and Joe Gomez had been excluded from the squad, and four of those five ended up missing out – Leicester playmaker Maddison the in-form player to force his way into Southgate’s plans.

There was also a place for Newcastle striker Callum Wilson after a recent goal charge at St James’ Park, and a call-up for Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher.

Here’s what Southgate had to say about his decisions, the squad in full and when England will get their campaign underway.

“He’s fantastic at pressing the ball. He’s not as experienced with us as other, but he has an impact on games and a goal threat,” Southgate said of his decision to pick Conor Gallagher, ahead of the likes of James Ward-Prowse.

“We were really pleased with the way he responded to being left out of our squad [earlier in the season], his mentality was excellent. If you approach it in that way, there’s always a way back.”

Kyle Walker

Kyle Walker is expected to be fit for England / Jan Kruger/GettyImages

“Kyle is not back in full training yet but he will be available for the group stage,” Southgate said of Manchester City star Walker.

“We had to make a difficult call with Reece, who is a fantastic player. But he wasn’t going to be available until, if everything went perfectly, the latter stages of the tournament.

“There were too many unknowns on this road to recovery, and I don’t think we could take a player that’s not available for the group stage, I think that would be deemed arrogant in some circles.

“There were too many unknowns on this road to recovery, and I don’t think we could take a player that’s not available for the group stage, I think that would be deemed arrogant in some circles.

“If everything went well and he was available and ready, you’d be bringing him into a quarter-final after eight weeks out. That would be really demanding.”

“No, that’s not the case,” Southgate insisted when it was put to him that Kalvin Phillips wouldn’t be fit for England’s first group game. “Kalvin played last night, so I think with him he’s free of injury.

“We’re aware he’s not going to be able to play 90 minutes, that won’t be possible. We’re going to have to build his fitness level. But he’s available, free of injury.

“We have Declan Rice as a defensive midfielder, Hendo can play there but it’s not his number one position, so we don’t have a lot of cover for that role in the country.

“Kalvin is a super player and we feel that’s a risk worth taking because we know generally his fitness is good, and we think he can add to the group.

Southgate has called Harry Maguire, John Stones, Eric Dier, Ben White and Conor Coady up, while the likes of Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi have not made it.

“We don’t think the young ones have done quite enough to push the older ones out,” he said of his decision to stick with the old guard.

“[Maguire] is one of our best centre-backs.”

Tammy Abraham

Tammy Abraham didn’t make the cut for England / Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages

“Tammy’s had a poor run of scoring form at the wrong time,” he replied when asked why Roma striker Abraham had been left out in the cold.

“It’s not a case where we’re three or four weeks away from a finals and the start of the first match, we’re now ten days [away].

“Form could be important. We don’t know really any of the players we’re watching their club form, but we don’t really know until we see them face-to-face and on the training pitch.

“He’s playing really well,” he said. “Look, we’ve always said he’s a good player, he’s earned the right.

“We think he can give us something slightly different to the other attacking players that we’ve got. I think at various stages there have been different conversations and debates about James, there were moments where ahead of the Euros I don’t think he was in contention, he had a problem with his hip, and then September was probably a fair debate [over his exclusion].

“But I think he’s playing as well as any of the attacking players in this country. He’s different to the others, we have different types of threat, I think we could need that.”

England's depth chart for the World Cup

England’s depth chart for the World Cup / 90min

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Newcastle), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)

Defenders: Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Ben White (Arsenal), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Conor Coady (Everton), Luke Shaw (Manchester United)

Midfielders: Declan Rice (West Ham), Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (Chelsea), James Maddison (Leicester), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea)

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Callum Wilson (Newcastle), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Raheem Sterling (Chelsea), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jack Grealish (Manchester City)

England commence their 2022 World Cup campaign on 21 November when they take on Iran in Group B – one day after Qatar face Ecuador in the tournament’s official curtain-raiser.

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