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England - The Southgate Years


Lineker

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33 minutes ago, TCO said:

To be fair, he is England's and Man United's all-time top goalscorer and yet still doesn't get any real respect. 

He deserves a proper goodbye game. The way people and the media look at Rooney is bizarre. He was an amazing player and is still smashing it in the MLS at 33.

This is the same media that built him up as the next Pele when he scored the winning goal against Arsenal at the age of 16. English fans were trained to expect an all-time elite, so there was an inevitable backlash when all they got was a very good striker.

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1 hour ago, TCO said:

To be fair, he is England's and Man United's all-time top goalscorer and yet still doesn't get any real respect. 

He deserves a proper goodbye game. The way people and the media look at Rooney is bizarre. He was an amazing player and is still smashing it in the MLS at 33.

Totally agree. Phil McNulty has written an article for BBC Sport about it criticising it and saying it'll be met with ridicule. What a load of drivel. He's our record goalscorer and was a hell of a player. Anybody arguing it cheapens international friendlies has clearly never watched one. They're already pointless, insufferable tedious affairs.

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The match that Rooney will be playing in is to raise money for the Wayne Rooney Foundation so it makes even more sense that he's called up for it. Any way that raises money for charity without hurting anyone is a good thing in my books.

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At the end of the day, it's an international friendly. They are borderline pointless at this point (seriously, if you want to experiment with the 'proper' starting team, use the Nations League - we don't / shouldn't need it as a qualifying path to the Euros and we will be playing comperable opposition), and it raises money for charity. Seems a win-win to me. 

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1 hour ago, DFF said:

At the end of the day, it's an international friendly. They are borderline pointless at this point (seriously, if you want to experiment with the 'proper' starting team, use the Nations League - we don't / shouldn't need it as a qualifying path to the Euros and we will be playing comperable opposition), and it raises money for charity. Seems a win-win to me. 

I don't disagree, at which point remove caps altogether from international friendlies. And play Olly Murs right wing. 

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Callum Wilson has been called up by England for the first time after an impressive start to the season with Bournemouth.

The striker has been included in the squad named by Gareth Southgate for the friendly against USA and the Nations League match against Croatia.

Wilson, who has six goals in 11 Premier League matches this season, joins Jadon Sancho and – for the USA game only – Wayne Rooney among the forward chosen by Southgate.

The manager defended the inclusion of Rooney. “There have been ongoing discussions since Wayne retired about paying tribute to him and his England career,” said Southgate, who added Rooney had declined an opportunity to be honoured before the World Cup so as not to take the attention away from those going to Russia.

“Those discussions started 12 months ago. We have an opportunity with the game at Wembley to pay tribute. I am still able to look to the future with the squad we’ve picked, but we’ve talked a lot about the history of the shirt.

“We have brought former players back to speak and present shirts. I think all the players respect Wayne’s contribution and that he deserves the best possible send-off.”

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard have been included in the squad after missing the most recent internationals. James Maddison and the injured Mason Mount have dropped out.

The Everton defender Michael Keane is included in an England squad for the first time in 12 months.

England squad for USA and Croatia
Goalkeepers: Bettinelli, Butland, McCarthy, Pickford. 
Defenders: Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Dunk, Gomez, Keane, Shaw, Stones, Trippier, Walker. 
Midfielders: Barkley, Alli, Delph, Dier, Henderson, Lingard, Loftus-Cheek, Winks. 
Forwards: Kane, Rashford, Sancho, Sterling, Welbeck, Wilson, Rooney

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Fabian Delph as England captain is bizarre. 

Not sure what Rob Holding has to do to get an England call-up, he's arguably been one of the most in-form English centre-halves this season.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing Sancho and Pulisic play here. Plus, George Weah's son apparently. 

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