2022 World Cup in Qatar: England team. Southgate’s Last Chance

Historical reference

It’s hard to imagine a major tournament without England. The world championships are no exception. For the first time, the founders of football took part in the main world championship 16 times. The main achievement for the British was winning the World Championship on home soil in 1966. Since then, England have been widely regarded as one of the big favorites in the tournament, but have failed to live up to expectations. At the last World Cup in Russia, the British reached the semi-finals, where they lost to the Croatian team. Gareth Southgate’s side then lost to the Belgians in the match for third place. The England team will not come to the World Cup in Qatar as one of the main favorites, but they are quite attracted to the role of a team that can perform well. Yet fans still remember the European Championship final last summer.

How did you qualify for the 2022 World Cup?

England won their qualifying group by a notable margin, which also included Poland, Albania, Hungary, Andorra and San Marino.

The English have drawn twice (both times 1:1 – with Poland and Hungary) and won all the other matches. This included a 10-0 win over San Marino. England scored 26 points, easily secured a straight ticket to the World Cup and the goal difference was 39-3, but the fans’ impression was marred by the deafening failure of the Nations League which followed immediately after qualifying. There the British managed to fly to B Division.

Compound

England is mainly represented by local clubs. The only exceptions are Milan’s Fikayo Tomori, Roma’s Tammy Abraham and Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham.

The rest of the team is formed mainly by leaders of Manchester City and Chelsea. Questions are only raised by the goalkeeper line, in which there is no obvious star. The main goalkeeper spot behind Aaron Ramsdale or Jordan Pickford. In the rest of the lines, the England team is equipped with stars. Defensively there are Harry Maguire, Eric Dyer, Luke Shaw, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Trent Alexander-Arnold and youngsters Mark Gehi and Fikayo Tomori. The loss will be Rhys James.

In midfield, the backbone is the now-injured Calvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice. Mason Mount, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden are in charge of the creation. On the attacking flanks there is also a big set – Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka. Tip is Harry Kane.

In general, England have a powerful team and one of the most expensive in the World Cup (1.36 billion euros). The question is how Gareth Southgate is going to handle this.

main stars

Harry Kane

Undoubtedly, the main star and hope for the England squad at the World Cup. Kane is on the verge of becoming the national team’s all-time top scorer. Harry is unconditionally the main striker for his country and the main star of the team. A lot at the World Cup will depend on Harry Kane’s form.

Phil Foden

One of the complaints against Gareth Southgate is the inability or unwillingness to bring into the system, perhaps, its main rising star with Jude Bellingham. Foden has already become an undisputed main player at Manchester City, but he has yet to achieve the same recognition at the national team. Southgate is trying to build a game around Phil and that’s another dilemma for Southgate. The tournament can be an important step towards world-class star status.

Rahim Sterling

Sterling is often criticized, but in the national team he has always been important. Southgate actively involved Raheem both in trying to build a more attacking game and when he moved into the counter-attacks. Sterling’s skills allow him to be an important player in any system which makes the winger one of the leaders in the team.

Coach

Gareth Southgate has been with England since 2016. Already at the 2018 World Cup, the specialist brought a noticeably changed team and achieved a good result. A year later, the English took third place in the UEFA Nations League, and then the team began to fall.

The main complaint against Southgate from fans and pundits alike is the unspectacular style of play. Gareth doesn’t use the team’s powerful attacking potential. At the moment, he could highlight the results – at the European Championships, England became the silver medalist of the tournament, although they played quite pragmatically. But in the new Nations League draw, the team’s failure led to criticism from Southgate. The coach recalled everything: pragmatism, the lack of young stars in the workforce, the fact that England has not put in an attack for six years and often relies on standards.

Southgate is well aware that he is in the balance and speaks openly about it. The absence of a good result at the World Cup will lead to the resignation of the coach. Gareth is at risk of being fired.

Prospects for the 2022 World Cup

England are not among the big favorites of the tournament, but with a favorable grid, they are able to go far enough, if only thanks to performing qualities. There are teams like France, Argentina and the Netherlands in the English group, and at the moment all these teams seem preferable as teams, but do not surpass.

The British group, despite being the clear favourites, is not the easiest. The United States have never been a gift to anyone, so they will always try to annoy England, Iran caused problems for Spain and Portugal four years ago and have since become a rival even trickier, and for Wales, the match with England is fundamental.

However, England will be the group favourites, and no doubt the upper class of players will have to play their part. In the 1/8 finals, the Southgate team will have to play with someone from group A: Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar.

Who will he play with?

21.11. England – Iran
25.11. England – United States
29.11. Wales — England

Yahya Hasanov, Athletistic