England World Cup 2022 squad guide: Full fixtures, group, ones to watch, odds and more

 

Can Harry Kane lead England to World Cup success? (REUTERS)

Expectations are high, and hopes even higher, that England can pull off another superb run at a major tournament after reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the final of Euro 2020. Manager Gareth Southgate has instilled a confidence in his squad which has brought a belief that England can finally win the World Cup again. That confidence is also reflected in the betting markets with the Three Lions third favourites to lift the trophy behind Brazil and France.

Yet faith in Southgate and his squad is not as strong as it was after England stumbled through this year’s Nations League campaign. No wins in six games with two defeats to Hungary and relegation from League A has put a sour note on Southgate’s time in charge and sends England heading into this important World Cup campaign on rocky footing. The pressure to perform well has increased and the manager’s decision-making, on and off the field, will be more firmly under the spotlight.

No more so than when he names the 26-man squad he will be taking to Qatar. Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling are dead certs and will be hoping to replicate their form from the past two tournaments with Jordan Pickford also secure of a starting place in goal. Jude Bellingham is pushing to tie down a starting berth but the question of where Phil Foden’s best position in the team is hasn’t been answered. Calls to start Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back have gone unheeded with Reece James and Kyle Walker preferred and the England boss has stuck with Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw despite their limited playing time with Manchester United.

Going in England’s favour is the group they’ve been drawn in. The expectation is that the Three Lions will win Group B featuring Iran, USA, and Wales – although Scotland proved at the Euros that Home Nations matches at major tournaments can be challenging. Things get trickier in the knockout rounds, and should England top the group they’ll likely face the African champions, Senegal, in the last-16 before a possible clash with current World champions France in the quarters. Belgium and Portugal are potential semi-final contenders before one of Spain, Germany, or Brazil await in the final, probably. It looks set to be the most difficult run England have had so far under Southgate but if they get through it, they’ll have guaranteed their spots in history.

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Here is everything you need to know:

Can Gareth Southgate take England on another memorable World Cup run? (Action Images via Reuters)

Group fixtures (all times GMT)

Monday 21 November: England vs Iran – 13:00

Friday 25 November: England vs USA – 19:00

Tuesday 29 November: Wales vs England – 19:00

Predicted squad

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

Defenders: Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City), Declan Rice (West Ham United), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)

Forwards: Tammy Abraham (Roma), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Chelsea)

Ones to watch

Star – Harry Kane: England’s captain and main striker, Kane won the golden boot in the last World Cup and is guaranteed his spot in the starting XI. He’s hitting form at the right time scoring close to a goal per game for Tottenham in the Premier League this season. The 29-year-old can also drop deep and pick out passes through the lines for his speedier teammates which will prove useful against strong defences.

Teenager Jude Bellingham hopes to thrive in England’s midfield (The FA via Getty Images)

Breakout talent – Jude Bellingham: The question was whether Gareth Southgate would give him enough minutes to show off his talent at the World Cup but England’s recent 3-3 draw with Germany changed that. At 2-0 down 19-year-old Bellingham took control of midfield and launched the Three Lions into a counter assault. He broke up play, made runs into the box, slipped in quaint through balls and won a penalty, all but nailing down a spot in the starting XI in the process. Add on that Bellingham is only the third teenager to score in four consecutive Champions League appearances after Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé and England have got themselves a real talent.

Odds to win the World Cup (taken from Betfair)

13/2

Prediction

England should have enough quality and depth in their squad to breeze through the group stages with Wales, buoyed by reaching the World Cup for the first time in 64 years and motivated by inspiring speeches from Michael Sheen, the biggest threat. Results elsewhere may give England an easier route to the latter stages of the tournament but if things fall out as predicted getting past the quarterfinals will be good going for Gareth Southgate’s side. Knocked out in the quarter/semi-finals.

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Traits that made Cristiano Ronaldo great now hasten his painful decline

 

Cristiano Ronaldo trained alone on Friday. In a way it was the perfect image: a footballer who perhaps more than any other embodies the trope of the individual superstar, the idea that one man can do it on his own, doing it on his own. The television cameras were there to film his arrival and they were there a few hours later to film Erik ten Hag as he weathered a squall of Cristiano-related questions. The soap opera continues. But for now the football career is on hold.

Ronaldo will not feature for Manchester United against Chelsea on Saturday afternoon. He has been suspended for storming down the tunnel after refusing to come on as a substitute against Tottenham on Wednesday. The word is that United will again try to move him on in the January transfer window, and may even pay him to leave.

Perhaps we should have known that this was how it would end from the moment Ronaldo returned last autumn in a blizzard of ticker-tape and social media numbers. But nobody involved – not United, and certainly not Ronaldo himself – was prepared to shake themselves from a shared reverie that would disintegrate upon its first contact with reality.

Fans gather by the huge banner on the front of Old Trafford to celebrate the return of Cristiano Ronaldo before before his return match against Newcastle United in September 2021. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

For United, it was a reality borne out in results and dysfunction. For Ronaldo himself, reality has taken the form of time. The fact that he is 37 years of age is no barrier in itself: Thiago Silva is still turning out for Chelsea at 38, Fabio Quagliarella and Pepe are doing it at 39 for Sampdoria and Porto respectively, Joaquín is pounding up and down the wing for Real Betis at the age of 41. Ronaldo remains in excellent physical shape, and as he proved against Everton a fortnight ago, there are still few deadlier finishers. He ended last season with six goals in five appearances.

But what has changed is the game around him: a sport in which players are covering ever greater distances, at an ever higher intensity, to an ever more intricate and complex series of technical instructions. What has changed is the concept that one player, however talented or driven, can be given free rein or have a team built around him. The very principles upon which Ronaldo built not just his game but his fame, not just his career but his entire psyche, are eroding in front of his eyes.

What must this feel like? How is Ronaldo experiencing the world right now? In part these are questions that are impossible to answer, and so for various reasons people have stopped bothering to try. Far easier to paint him in broad primary colours, as either a cartoon villain or a vengeful demigod, to reduce his human complexity to numbers, his human emotions to ciphers. Fans who just months ago hailed his second coming as the second coming are now urging United to sweep him aside, to cast him adrift.

In April, Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodríguez lost their newborn son in childbirth. He was one of twins; their daughter survived. Rodríguez would later describe this tragedy as “the worst moment of her life”. For Ronaldo it was “the greatest sadness”. In the subsequent days the world of football rallied around Ronaldo at this most awful of times. Then, as the world of football is wont to do, it moved on to other things.

Did Ronaldo move on to other things? Nobody on the outside can say with any great certainty how this tragedy might have affected him. Every family processes grief in its own way. But anybody who has lost a child will tell you that it is a life-changing moment: a sadness that defies words or solace, whose vapour trail is felt not simply for weeks or months but for years, and for ever.

Fans at Anfield applaud on the seventh minute for Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and his family in April following the death of his newborn son. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA

Again, nobody here has a direct portal into Ronaldo’s brain, and ultimately we must all bear responsibility for our own actions. But I suppose the point here is that if one were to cast judgment on a man making a seemingly irrational emotional outburst – say, on the touchline during a televised football game – might this be the sort of thing you would want to take into account? If only a little, if only for reasons of simple compassion? Or is six months beyond the statute of limitations for these things?

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And then of course you can throw in the sense of athletic decline, which is often described as a form of sporting death, a brutal reacquaintance with one’s own mortality. For Ronaldo it is reasonable to presume that this reckoning will hit him harder than most, given the peaks he scaled and the levels of self-belief required to sustain them. Ronaldo will never be remotely as good at anything else as he is at football. Now, with decades of life to live, this thing is slipping away from him.

Cristiano Ronaldo looks on as he warms up on the touchline in Manchester United’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur. Photograph: Matt West/Shutterstock

United knew this, or at least should have done. Instead, they chose to sink more than £60m in fees and wages into a 36-year-old striker with seemingly no idea of what their exit strategy might be. In a way both United and Ronaldo were happy to indulge in the same delusion: that the good times would simply keep on rolling, that reality could simply be wished away through branding, star magnetism and sheer will. It was the ultimate marriage: a company convinced of its own immortal pre -eminence and a player convinced of his.

But of course companies can pivot, remake and reinvent themselves. Humans are stuck with the body they have. Even now, there are choices to be made. Ronaldo could simply knuckle down, take his medicine, accept a diminished role in an evolving team, acknowledge his limits. But to do so would be to go against every trait and instinct that drove him to the top in the first place. And so as United forge ahead, Ronaldo simply waits: alone, imprisoned by time, quietly going the way of all flesh.

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Ballon d'Or: Karim Benzema wins award as best player in world football for first time

 

Real Madrid and France forward Karim Benzema has won the Ballon d'Or - awarded to the best footballer of the year - for the first time.

Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games as he helped Real win the Champions League and La Liga in 2021-22.

Lionel Messi (seven) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five) had won the award on 12 of the previous 13 occasions.

Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane, who was at Liverpool in 2021-22, was second ahead of Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne.

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas retained the Women's Ballon d'Or, awarded to the best best female footballer of 2022.

England Euro 2022 winner and Arsenal forward Beth Mead was second.

Premier League champions Manchester City, who had six nominees at the ceremony, were awarded Club of the Year ahead of Liverpool.

The Ballon d'Or is awarded to the best footballer of the year, based on performance over the 2021-22 season.

Zinedine Zidane (right) was the last Frenchman to win the Ballon d'Or First Frenchman to win prize since 1998

Monday's ceremony in Paris saw French F1 driver Esteban Ocon arrive at the Theatre du Chatelet with the Ballon d'Or trophy in a racing car.

Benzema is the first Frenchman to win the prestigious award since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Zidane was at the event to present his countryman with the prize.

"This prize in front of me makes me really proud," said Benzema. "When I was small, it was a childhood dream, I never gave up. Anything is possible.

"I'm really proud of my journey here. It wasn't easy, it was a difficult time for my family as well."

Benzema was the overwhelming favourite to win this year's award.

His 44 goals included a hat-trick in 17 second-half minutes against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and another away to Chelsea in the quarter-final first leg.

He also scored three more goals over two legs of the semi-final against Manchester City.

The 34-year-old, who has been at Real Madrid since 2009, is expected to play a key role for France at the World Cup in Qatar which starts on 20 November.

The Ballon d'Or is voted for by 100 journalists from around the world.

Warm reception for Haller

Borussia Dortmund's former West Ham striker Sebastien Haller, who has recently undergone chemotherapy for a testicular tumour, received warm applause from the audience when he walked on stage to present the Yashin Trophy to Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois for best goalkeeper.

Liverpool's Alisson was second, with Ederson of Manchester City and Chelsea's Edouard Mendy third and fourth respectively. Tottenham's Hugo Lloris was 10th.

The Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best performing player under the age of 21, went to Barcelona and Spain midfielder Gavi, who turned 18 in August.

Sebastien Haller on stage at the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, 19, was ranked fourth and England team-mate and Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka, 21, was eighth.

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski won the Gerd Muller Trophy awarded to the best striker after scoring 57 goals for Bayern Munich and Poland in 2021-22.

The inaugural Socrates Award, a humanitarian prize, went to Mane for his charity work.

Five-time winner Ronaldo ranked 20th

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the award in recent years, apart from in 2018 when Croatia midfielder Luka Modric won it.

Messi had already won the trophy more times than any other player and his seventh success in 2021 came after wins in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.

However, he was not nominated this time after an underwhelming first season at Paris St-Germain.

Manchester United's Ronaldo, who last won it in 2017, was placed 20th of the 30 players nominated, the Portuguese's lowest Ballon d'Or ranking since 2005.

Ballon d'Or results

1. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France).

2. Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich, Senegal).

3. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium).

4. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona, Poland).

5. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt).

6. Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain, France).

7. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium).

8. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, Brazil).

9. Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia).

10. Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway).

11. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea)

12. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria).

13. Sebastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund, Ivory Coast).

14. Fabinho (Liverpool, Brazil) tied with Rafael Leao (AC Milan, Portugal).

16. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands).

17. Luis Diaz (Liverpool, Colombia) tied with Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus, Serbia) and Casemiro (Manchester United, Brazil).

20. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal).

21. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur, England).

22. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool, England) tied with Phil Foden (Manchester City, England) and Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal).

25. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City, Portugal) tied with Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich, Germany), Mike Maignan (AC Milan, France), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid, Germany), Darwin Nunez (Liverpool, Uruguay) and Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, France).

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Hasenhuttl accepts importance of midweek clash with rivals AFC Bournemouth

 Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl during the Premier League match between Southampton and West Ham at St Mary's Stadium. Photo by Stuart Martin..

RALPH Hasenhuttl accepted the importance of Wednesday’s clash with AFC Bournemouth but insisted he retains “all the belief” in what Saints are doing.

The St Mary’s side visit the Vitality Stadium five points behind their fellow south-coast Premier League rivals after 10 matches.

Bournemouth, first managed by Scott Parker before Gary O’Neil took over on an interim basis, were firm favourites for relegation before the season began.

They were defeated 9-0 by Liverpool but are the only team in the division to remain unbeaten since, despite a difficult summer of recruitment and many feeling they have a weaker squad.

Saints, who are in the bottom three with eight points, must start picking up victories and crucially against teams they are likely to be competing with come the end of the season.

"For us, it's a Premier League game and an important one,” Hasenhuttl said, asked if there is any added incentive given the locality and shared objectives of the clubs.

“We go there and I think we know that they are in good shape at the moment, but we go there like we have always gone into in the past with all the belief in what we are doing to make it a good evening for us.”

The meeting comes off the back of a 1-1 draw with West Ham United, at St Mary’s, that ended a run of four straight defeats in the Premier League for Hasenhuttl and Saints.

It could have been a first win since the August victory over Chelsea, after Romain Perraud put Saints ahead and Che Adams squandered two big chances.

"For everybody it is very frustrating because these are the moments where you can make a big step forward,” Hasenhuttl admitted.

“But it would still be a long way to go. There's no guarantee that you win games but it makes it a little bit easier. And then you can definitely play a little bit calmer but we are never in the situation."

He added: "Let's say every point we get is a point gained and we know that we need every point.

“We are now going to Bournemouth and then against Arsenal so another two games this week. We have to be ready for the Wednesday game, immediately focus is on the game and hopefully we can get a win there."

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Miguel Almiron confirms status as latest Eddie Howe success story at Newcastle United

 

It is official: Miguel Almiron is Eddie Howe’s latest success story at Newcastle United. A man-of-the-match performance against Fulham was arguably his best in a Toon shirt to date, with two goals inspiring the Magpies to a resounding 4-1 win.

The Paraguayan’s brilliant first evoked memories of Dutch legend Marco van Basten in the Euro 1988 final as he volleyed home to take Bernd Leno by surprise. His second was a poacher’s finish at the back stick just moments before having a well-taken hat-trick goal ruled out for offside.

Any prospects of Almiron scoring a hat-trick were beyond comprehension a few months ago. The 28-year-old appeared destined for the St James’ Park exit earlier this year, lingering on the fringes of Howe’s squad having not started a game in 2022 until March 13.

READ MORE: Eddie Howe's ruthless words as half-time pitchside enquiry shows fear Newcastle put into Fulham

Three-and-a-half years on Tyneside had proven underwhelming until that point, with nobody seemingly knowing his best position. Under Steve Bruce, Almiron played on the right, the left, as a false number nine and even in midfield - rarely impressing despite an undeniable work ethic.

However, Howe has fine-tuned Almiron into a system that helps unleash his true potential. Astonishingly, the three goals he has bagged this season equate to 25% of his all-time Premier League total.

A man who was infamously inconsistent has been one of Newcastle's star performers in 2022-23… but the signs of improvement were already there. Admittedly, Almiron needed a slice of good fortune to turn his United career around.

Ryan Fraser - another Howe prodigy - hobbled off against Wolverhampton Wanderers in April and the Paraguayan was summoned from the bench. A typically tireless performance earned Almiron a starting berth and, a fortnight later, he produced a goal-of-the-month strike to earn a vital win over Crystal Palace.

The forward has started every league game but it was during summer when he started making a splash. Six goals in pre-season against stern opposition made him the standout performer - raising questions as to whether Newcastle needed a right-sided attacker.

It was almost as though Jack Grealish’s derogatory comments towards Almiron amid Manchester City’s title celebrations had given him the eye of the tiger. In the opening seven Premier League fixtures, his perennial graft was on show but, for the first time as a Newcastle player, there has been guile to back that up, too.

Craven Cottage proved the venue where Almiron’s turnaround was vindicated. Two clinical goals cemented his status as Howe’s freshest graduate, passing the course shortly after Joelinton, Fraser, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth enjoyed their drastic transformation under the former Bournemouth manager.

Desperation for a new right winger has eased and Newcastle fans are finally witnessing the player everybody thought they signed in January 2019. Even in the dark times, Almiron played with a smile on his dial - making this redemption arc even sweeter to watch unfold.

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Man United stake offered to Saudi Arabia PIF before Newcastle takeover

 

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) were offered a 30 per cent stake in a Premier League club - believed to be Manchester United - for £700million before they bought Newcastle United.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, said they looked at clubs in Italy, France and the United Kingdom before their £305m takeover at Newcastle, which was completed in October last year.

Al-Rumayyan said PIF were approached 'on the basis that we take 30 per cent of the ownership, and we don't interfere at all in terms of managing the club, for £700m.'

Reports in early 2019 suggested Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the chairman of the PIF sovereign wealth fund, was interested in buying United from the Glazer family.

No deal materialised and the Saudis turned their attention to buying Newcastle, who offered them and their fellow investors Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers complete control, in 2020.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), has revealed they were offered a 30 per cent stake in a Premier League club in 2019

The Saudi investors were linked with buying a share of Manchester United in early 2019

Their £305m deal took over a year to be ratified.

In an interview in Saudi Arabia, Al-Rumayyan said: 'Football, of course, is one of the most important sports there is. Whether domestically or abroad.

'It's the No 1 sport in the world. And why the Premier League? Because it's the best league in the world. No other league competes with it.

'There are 20 teams, three are relegated and three are promoted. The advantage of the Premier League is that any of the 20 teams can beat the best team in the league.

'When we looked at it, we looked at it from a financial perspective. By the way, it wasn't the first offer we got regarding a football team. We looked in Italy, France and the UK as well.

PIF went on to buy Newcastle United for £305m - Al-Rumayyan is pictured in the stands at St James' Park with fellow investor Amanda Staveley 

Man United's American owners, the Glazer family, have always insisted the club isn't for sale

'For example, in the UK there was a team that approached us on the basis that we take 30 per cent of the ownership, and we don't interfere at all in terms of managing the club, for £700m.'

Al-Rumayyan went on to say that Newcastle offered far better value because PIF had more control over the club.

He added: 'Then we bought Newcastle, who offered us 100 per cent of the ownership.

'But Amanda Staveley and her husband who got us the opportunity told us, "We like it so much, we would like to be with you." That was perfect.

'Then came the Reuben family who are one of the biggest property investors, saying that, "We would like to come with you", and these are one of the biggest investors in Newcastle.

Newcastle's players celebrate one of their goals in Saturday's 4-1 win over Fulham 

The club's fortunes have improved since the Saudi owners appointed Eddie Howe as manager

'I said, "Perfect! Tell them to come". So now they have a skin in the game.

'We bought the whole team for £305m, instead of having only 30 per cent in another team for £700m.'

Newcastle were fighting relegation when the Saudi takeover took place but their fortunes improved after Eddie Howe replaced Steve Bruce as manager and they ultimately finished 11th.

They have lost only once in the Premier League so far this season, but have drawn five times and won only twice to sit seventh.

Newcastle beat Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage on Saturday and host Brentford this weekend.

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