England World Cup Squad

[JackyFulham90]

Would any of the Fulham boys make your 23 man squad?  If I was picking it right now mine would be

Hart, Forster, Foster
Walker, Clyne
Jagielka, Cahill, P Jones, Smalling
Baines, A Cole
Townsend,  Walcott
Wilshere, Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick
Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Rooney, Sturridge,  Defoe, Lambert

[EJL]

Surely Chamberlain can't be guaranteed a place having only started one Premier League match this season?

[westcliff white]

no Stockdale, Parker or Sidwell?

In all seriousness, Oxlade Chamberlain will go if he plays 10/12 matches from now to the end of the season, Roy seems to like him. I think Ruddy will go over Foster, and Johnson over Clyne. Other than that i think its probably right, altho Milner may creep in at the expense of another midfielder due to his versatility.

[MJG]

This is the team the Daily mail printed in 2007 when looking ahead at the 2014 WC

[Big Martin Jol]

Pretty similar to what I'd be inclined to take at this moment in time.

GKs: Hart, Forster, Butland.
DFs: Walker, Richards, Jones, Smalling, Cahill, Caulker, Baines, Cole.
MDs: Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gerrard, Lampard, Wilshere, Carrick, Barkley, Townsend.
FWs: Rooney, Sturridge, Defoe, Welbeck.

My starting XI would be Hart, Walker, Cahill, Jones, Baines, Walcott, Gerrard, Wilshere, Townsend, Rooney and Sturridge.

[Northern Cottager]

Pretty similar to what I'd be inclined to take at this moment in time.

GKs: Hart, Forster, Butland.
DFs: Walker, Richards, Jones, Smalling, Cahill, Caulker, Baines, Cole.
MDs: Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gerrard, Lampard, Wilshere, Carrick, Barkley, Townsend.
FWs: Rooney, Sturridge, Defoe, Welbeck.

My starting XI would be Hart, Walker, Cahill, Jones, Baines, Walcott, Gerrard, Wilshere, Townsend, Rooney and Sturridge.

Wilsheres injury problem makes Richardson look like Iron Man.

He's made of glass.

[simplyfulham]

This is the team the Daily mail printed in 2007 when looking ahead at the 2014 WC

Ha! Oh well done for digging that little gem out! Love it.

Well Theo is in the squad so they got one of them right.. Micah Richards can't be too far off the squad if he had a decent run toward the end of the season

I do feel sorry for Michael Johnson, Scott Sinclair and Sam Hutchinson. They've all had serious difficulties in terms of injuries, depression and just bad luck in choosing his club in Sinclair's case.

[Northern Cottager]

This is the team the Daily mail printed in 2007 when looking ahead at the 2014 WC

Ha! Oh well done for digging that little gem out! Love it.

Well Theo is in the squad so they got one of them right.. Micah Richards can't be too far off the squad if he had a decent run toward the end of the season

I do feel sorry for Michael Johnson, Scott Sinclair and Sam Hutchinson. They've all had serious difficulties in terms of injuries, depression and just bad luck in choosing his club in Sinclair's case.

no bad luck where Sinclair is regarded, he chose City for money, and money alone!

Jose Baxter is now plying his trade in League 1 if i'm not mistaken, how odd!

Who would make our team for 2018 if we did it now?!

[MJG]

This is the team the Daily mail printed in 2007 when looking ahead at the 2014 WC

Ha! Oh well done for digging that little gem out! Love it.

Well Theo is in the squad so they got one of them right.. Micah Richards can't be too far off the squad if he had a decent run toward the end of the season

I do feel sorry for Michael Johnson, Scott Sinclair and Sam Hutchinson. They've all had serious difficulties in terms of injuries, depression and just bad luck in choosing his club in Sinclair's case.

no bad luck where Sinclair is regarded, he chose City for money, and money alone!

Jose Baxter is now plying his trade in League 1 if i'm not mistaken, how odd!

Who would make our team for 2018 if we did it now?!

Just shows how many form the youth setups (be it league or national) actually make it.

[Big Martin Jol]

Who would make our team for 2018 if we did it now?!

It's so difficult to say.

Obviously the 'golden generation' (ie. Cole, Gerrard and Lampard) will be gone after the World Cup and a lot of new names will doubtless emerge, but to be honest we've got quite a lot of young players settled in/around the squad already.

Hart, Forster, Butland, Walker, Richards, Jenkinson, Smalling, Caulker, Jones, Gibbs, Shaw, Sterling, Zaha, Walcott, Wilshere, Cleverley, Barkley, Rodwell, Sturridge, Welbeck - they're all young enough to be with us through to Qatar 2022 if they don't get usurped, although I'm sure some will.

[simplyfulham]

Ha! Oh well done for digging that little gem out! Love it.

Well Theo is in the squad so they got one of them right.. Micah Richards can't be too far off the squad if he had a decent run toward the end of the season

I do feel sorry for Michael Johnson, Scott Sinclair and Sam Hutchinson. They've all had serious difficulties in terms of injuries, depression and just bad luck in choosing his club in Sinclair's case.

no bad luck where Sinclair is regarded, he chose City for money, and money alone!

Jose Baxter is now plying his trade in League 1 if i'm not mistaken, how odd!

Who would make our team for 2018 if we did it now?!

I see that point, but you have to remember this is a lad that went out on loan in lower divisions 5 or 6 times in order to get playing time away from Chelsea, before eventually settling at Swansea and becoming a big part of the team there.

When City came along, he probably thought it was his chance to push on again and battle for an England place maybe. He has shown his willingness to play once again by going on loan to play at WBA.

I'm not sure he does have a bad attitude.

[cmg]

This is the team the Daily mail printed in 2007 when looking ahead at the 2014 WC

Just shows how many form the youth setups (be it league or national) actually make it.

Very interesting. Especially in view of the recent discussions about our current young talent crop. As MJG says, it shows how difficult is the transition from 'emerging talent' to 'established star'.

It's easy to take the proverbial out of the Daily Mail (should be compulsory) but the line-up provides a lesson for any young hopeful to take heed of.

The choices of Walcott and Richards, the only two real possibilities today, were really 'no-brainers' as they had both been capped by then.

The Michael Johnson story is very sad and must serve as a stark warning.
Ben Amos might still make it - but making a mark as a goalkeeper in the current PL setup is a tough gig.

As for the rest - their current teams are: Hutchinson (on loan at Vitesse Arnhem), Hoyle (Dagenham & Redbridge), Threllfall (Morecambe), Parrett (Stevenage), Henry (Millwall), Baxter (Shef Utd).

Pro football: Great rewards/Great disappointments.

[EJL]

Re: lack of sympathy for Sinclair.

The comments made by him following his loan move to West Brom make me think Sinclair isn't your archetypal, money-grabbing 21st century footballer. Even if it was naive to think it were possible, I reckon he was made promises about first team appearances that were broken. Maybe a couple of CL appearances or something like that. He'd been through sitting on the bench/not seeing the light of day at another big club in Chelsea, so I think there was more to that transfer than Sinclair trying to fill his pockets.