England’s Gareth Southgate faces a unique challenge ahead of the Euros. He is among the fourth such tournament at the helm of England and he is therefore also saddled with the problem. We seem to have a double handicap from the missed selection of Shaw and Chilwell.
Here the call has gone to the list of 166 players in 34 countries who are in Southgate’s “preparatory squad” which includes the likes of Manchester United’s Harry Maguire, Manchester City’s Phil Foden, and Manchester United Raphael Varane.
Gareth Southgate’s likely England squad for Euro 2024
England’s Gareth Southgate was forced to contemplate another failed year before a World Cup or European Championship.
This will have been his fourth tournament in charge as England manager but this will be the first time he has ever been in such a dilemma with defensive choices. All the same, Southgate finds himself out in the cold to even a single good for the Euros this coming summer due to major fitness and availability issues as some of them have not even played a ball in months.
Gareth Southgate will call players and Manchester United, Manchester City, and also Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham later on to his training squad but this time with an expanded 30 plus names because of their respective involvement in the FA Cup and Champions League finals respectively.
Instead of a squad announcement, it is described as a “preparatory squad” due to the minimal numbers on it and FA wanting to have 22 players available for the first meet-up next week, which will not initially include players from City and United or Bellingham.
Gareth Southgate’s Defensive Dilemma: Injury Woes
Southgate has severe concern regarding the recently injured Shaw and fellow England left-back Chilwell who have featured for just 12 minutes in the past three months while the next man in the line, Trippier, has started only one game since March.
That has meant there is little Southgate has been able to do to prepare himself for this tournament which has been the worst ever preparation for a major tournament in his eight-year reign as England manager for the World Cup in 2018, 2022 World Cup, and 2020 Euros. Southgate confessed that he voted in favor of the expanded squads at a coaches’ meeting at UEFA for selfish reasons but just to have more defenders in his team.
Shaw has been out through a hamstring issue and is anticipating playing on the final day even though the recovery has not been kind to the United defender who has not been able to reintegrate into the team while Chilwell has been, at least, excluded from the Chelsea team that could play Bournemouth on the final day of the season.
Gareth Southgate hoped that Trippier might get some more game time at Brentford against Newcastle in their last match of the season but he got just nine minutes as a substitute and that is still the best bet to get the left-back position for the national team in the Euros.
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Rubass Afnan is a passionate cricket writer whose love for football shines through in every word. From match analyses to player profiles, delivers insightful commentary that resonates with fans worldwide. Stay tuned for the latest from the world of soccer.
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