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Gareth Southgate has named England's 23-man squad for the World Cup and English fans are ambivalent about the team. While most of the selections are justified and are based on their current form, a few of them are just bemusing.
Here's the 23-man squad named by the England boss: Jack Butland, Pickford, Pope, Stones, Jones, Walker, Cahill, Rose, Maguire, Alexander-Arnold, Young, Trippier, Henderson, Dier, Alli, Lingard, Sterling, Delph, Loftus-Cheek, Kane, Vardy, Rashford, Welbeck.
Here are the 3 players who should have been selected:
#3 Gary Cahill
Gary Cahill is not the same as he was 2-3 years ago. He was rock solid at the back and was one of the main reasons why Chelsea won the Premier League title under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
This season has been one of his worst ever and Chelsea fans have been asking their club to sell him off this summer. The Blues faithful are livid with their club captain for his mistakes at the back.
James Tarkowski should have been on the plane instead of him as he's been in terrific form. Chris Smalling has been bang average this season but is easily a better defender than Cahill in current form.
#2 Danny Welbeck
Gareth Southgate's attacking options in Russia are going to be Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford and Danny Welbeck! While 3 of the 4 have been brilliant in front of goal or at least on the pitch, Welbeck has been doing nothing for Arsenal.
The striker finished last season with 10 goals in 47 apps – not something you expect from a striker. He has been missing a lot of chances and is going to be the weak link when selected.
Raheem Sterling has also been used as a striker by Southgate in friendlies and that makes it even more puzzling to figure out why Welbeck is on the place to Russia.
#1 Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is a brilliant player and unlike Cahill and Welbeck, he's not on this list for his poor form. The Chelsea loanee has been injured for most of the season and is just getting back to his best.
At this point, taking him to Russia is a big gamble. Jack Wilshere, Nathan Redmond, James Ward-Prowse and Jonjo Shelvey have been better players this season and should have made the squad ahead of Loftus-Cheek.
Lewis Cook is another player who's been in good touch and is just unlucky to have missed out.
