ENGLAND SQUAD, ASSEMBLE! SHORTLY!
With the draw for Big Cup not due to take place until shortly after today’s thrilling instalment of the world’s most tea-timely football email is detonated, it behoves the Fiver to bring you news of the England squad for next month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo instead. While it’s true that nobody is particularly keen on the interruption of an international break so early in the season, it is precisely these kind of games that England must win if they are to qualify for the right to not win their first major piece of silverware in 54 years.
While there were no no major surprises in Southgate’s 25-man squad, the first time inclusion of defenders Tyrone Mings and Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been seized upon by sports news editors savvy enough to realise that flagging up the selection of Everton’s Michael Keane might not necessarily provide those precious, lovely clickety-click clicks. “He’s an interesting case as he entered the game a bit later and hasn’t played as much as a centre-back,” said Southgate, peering at Mings, much like a jeweller might inspect a particular precious gem through his eyepiece. Included at the expense of Kyle Walker, Wan-Bissaka was also the subject of praise from Southgate. “He’s adapted very well to a high-profile move with the intensity and pressure and we are really looking at him and Trent [Alexander-Arnold],” he explained, in a feeble bid to conceal an apparent bias in favour of right-backs with double-barrelled surnames.
Elsewhere in the squad, James Maddison and Mason Mount have been selected, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returns to a group of midfielders that also includes Ross Barkley, Jordan Henderson, Harry Winks and Declan Rice … subject to the West Ham midfielder not having another change of heart and deciding he’d rather play for Burkina Faso. “We only have eight matches before I name the squad for the European Championship,” Southgate said, getting ahead of himself ever so slightly. But with his team already top of Group A having played fewer matches than any of their rivals, exiting this particular group of European nations with a minimum of fuss probably won’t require Southgate to emulate his political counterpart and go running to the Queen.
England squad: Heaton (Aston Villa), Pickford (Everton), Pope (Burnley), Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Chilwell (Leicester), Gomez (Liverpool), Keane (Everton), Maguire (Man Utd), Mings (Aston Villa), Rose (Tottenham), Trippier (Atlético Madrid), Wan-Bissaka (Man Utd), Barkley (Chelsea), Henderson (Liverpool), Maddison (Leicester), Mount (Chelsea), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Liverpool), Rice (West Ham), Winks (Tottenham), Fiver (Fiver Towers), Kane (Tottenham), Lingard (Man Utd), Rashford (Man Utd), Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Sterling (Man City), Wilson (Bournemouth).
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Join Rob Smyth for the hot Champions League group-stage draw action from 5pm.
And join, um, Rob Smyth again for Wolves 2-0 (agg: 5-2) Torino in Big Vase.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You can try to make something of it, but to me it’s nothing. Things shouldn’t always be taken at face value, especially in that kind of environment when there are wind-up merchants about” – Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder defends striker Oli McBurnie after the Scotland international was captured on camera in the players tunnel prior to the EFL Cup tie against Blackburn on Tuesday night allegedly saying he hoped he would not be called up for his country because it was “sh1te”.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
FIVER LETTERS
“Re: pub football. I’ve always thought it would be great to play for a team playing out of The Cloggers Arms in Failsworth, Manchester, but unfortunately I believe it’s now closed & I’m 64!” – Nigel Brook.
“I have just seen in Big Paper that in the midst of a domestic political crisis in Italy ‘President gives Conte mandate to from new government’. So assuming that home grown title winning prowess and fondness for a big man up front is what is needed in these turbulent times, can someone get Howard Wilkinson’s number for Mrs Windsor” – Eoin Dunning.
“Given that the Fiver has printed Mike Wilner’s letter in full [yesterday’s Fiver letters], is it the Fiver’s official position that the Road Runner says Beep Beep rather than Meep Meep? This is the one issue that has bothered me more than VAR and Bury lately” – Ceri Rees.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is … Eoin Dunning.
BITS AND BOBS
Manchester United’s Chris Smalling is set join Roma on a €3m season-long loan.
Nice’s match with Marseille on Wednesday night was suspended after fans displayed homophobic banners.
Arsenal’s Unai Emery says he is not speaking about the possibility for Mesut Özil to leave. “We are not speaking about the possibility for Mesut to leave,” he said, speaking about the possibility of Özil leaving.
France manager and one-time porteur d’eau Didier Deschamps has called up Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte and Lille forward Jonathan Ikone for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Albania and Andorra next month.
STILL WANT MORE?
Bands FC: a bright idea that is raising thousands for vulnerable children, writes Richard Foster.
Alexis Sánchez is best when he’s smiling and the joy went at Manchester United, writes Chilean journalist Samuel Ferreiro.
Carrie Jones: too young to play for Cardiff but set to play for Wales Women – Suzanne Wrack gets the lowdown on the Welsh wonderkid.
Salary caps and direct action: David Conn dissects the lessons to learn from Bury’s demise.
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