The England thread

[TCO]

Jamie Vardy's story would be heartwarming if Charlie Austin wasn't in the squad. Who deserves it, is younger, better and has had a much bigger rise!

[Matt]

Hardly, Austin has been playing pro football from being about 18, Vardy was playing for Halifax in his mid 20s. Not that that's a reason to call him up, if we're going by that logic my mate Swifty has been banging in goals for fun in the West Riding first division this season.

[DavidMarrio]

I'm not sure what everyone's problem is. It's only for two friendlies in the summer. He's behind Kane, Berahino and Ings in the pecking order anyway, it's just none of them are available. And Sturridge.

I'm happy for him, he's the kind of player you want in your team and he was playing in the Conference North four years ago. Now he's in the England squad. It's great.

It's great for him, and a great story. But players with comparably limited technical ability who work hard are not exactly what we should want in the national team.

I agree with both points. One of the games is a friendly and the other he's not going to play a big part in but a lot of the other striking options are either injured or at the U21s.

But I agree that he's not exactly someone who is going to be around the England squad on a frequent basis and that sentiment shouldn't really be a factor in someone getting called up. I couldn't be arsed if they played in non-league at one point as long as they are good enough.

Can't really think of anyone else really who could have been called up. Lambert hardly ever plays, is Defoe retired from England? He could have been a good option to have.

[Lineker]

A bet on QPR striker Charlie Austin to score for England could earns thousands for speculative Poole Town fans.

A group of 16, including commercial chief Mark Bumford, placed a £155 bet at 50-1 in 2010 when Austin had started at Swindon, having left Poole.

Now with the 25-year-old having received his first call-up, the group are closing in on a £7,905 payout.

"The local bookies are aware they might have to cough up. They don't mind. It's good publicity," said Bumford.

Southern Premier League club Poole were in the Wessex League Premier Division when Austin joined them in 2008 from Thatcham Town.

The forward spent a season at the Dorset club where he had a remarkable scoring record.

Bumford added: "He was always confident and sure of himself. A little cocky.

"But with 46 goals in 46 games in his first season, then 18 goals in his last 11 matches for us, including five in his last game, he could afford to be."

[Matt]

Seems a bit short to me, should've shopped around

[Colly]

It's a rubbish story all round, some people stuck a tenner each (apart from one for some reason) on a bet and now might possibly but quite likely not win £500. Wow.

[Lineker]

Aidy Boothroyd's England Under 20's squad will play China, Ivory Coast, Mexico and Morocco during the Toulon tournament which takes place 27th May-7th June.

Goalkeepers: Christian Walton (Brighton), Jordan Pickford (Sunderland)

Defenders: Dominic Iorfa (Wolves), Moses Odubajo (Brentford), Baily Cargill (AFC Bournemouth), Kortney Hause (Wolves), Isaac Hayden (Arsenal)

Midfielders: Harrison Reed (Southampton), Jack Stephens (Swindon Town, on loan from Southampton), Jamie Hanson (Derby County), Lewis Baker (Chelsea), Matty Grimes (Swansea), Jordon Ibe (Liverpool), Duncan Watmore (Sunderland), John Swift (Swindon Town, on loan from Chelsea)

Forwards: Demarai Gray (Birmingham), James Wilson (Manchester United), Callum Robinson (Aston Villa), Chuba Akpom (Arsenal), Rolando Aarons (Newcastle)

The games will be on BT Sport.

[Lineker]

England Under-21s head coach Gareth Southgate has confirmed his final 23-man squad for this summer’s Euro Finals.

The Three Lions squad arrived at St. George’s Park on Tuesday morning to begin their preparations for the competition in Czech Republic.

And Southgate has named his final group for the trip, after naming an initial long squad of 27 players last month.

The majority of the players who helped England to qualify for the Finals in impressive style over the last 18 months are involved, including top scorer Saido Berahino, Tottenham Hotspur hitman Harry Kane and Burnley’s Danny Ings.

Defenders John Stones, Carl Jenkinson and Calum Chambers, who have all been capped at senior level, will travel and there is also a place for Southampton left-back Matt Targett who made his U21 debut in March’s game with the Czechs in Prague.

In midfield, regulars James Ward-Prowse, Will Hughes and Tom Carroll are selected, with the latter having recovered from an ankle injury which ruled out of the final weeks of the season while on loan at Swansea City from Spurs.

Winger Nathan Redmond was one of the team's most consistent performers in qualifying and he joins up on a high after scoring in Norwich City's Championship play-off win at Wembley last month.

Also included in the squad is Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who is the only new face in the group, after previously featuring for England U19s this campaign and making his breakthrough into the Stamford Bridge first-team towards the end of the season.

The squad will train at St. George’s Park over the next two weeks before they face their final send-off for the Euros with a game against Belarus at Barnsley’s Oakwell home on Thursday 11 June.

After that, the players will fly out to their Czech base in Olomouc on Sunday 14 June ahead of their Euro Group B opener against Portugal in Uherske Hradiste on Thursday 18 June.

Goalkeepers

Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham)

Jonathan Bond (Watford)

Jack Butland (Stoke City)

Defenders

Calum Chambers (Arsenal)

Luke Garbutt (Everton)

Ben Gibson (Middlesbrough)

Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal)

Michael Keane (Burnley)

Liam Moore (Leicester City)

John Stones (Everton)

Matt Targett (Southampton)

Midfielders

Tom Carroll (Tottenham Hotspur)

Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea)

Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Will Hughes (Derby County)

Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)

Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea)

Alex Pritchard (Tottenham Hotspur)

Nathan Redmond (Norwich City)

James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)

Forwards

Saido Berahino (West Bromwich Albion)

Danny Ings (Burnley)

Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

Eric Dier, Patrick Bamford, Cauley Woodrow and Benik Afobe miss out.

[Jimmy]

Crazy that Dier's missing out. Guessing Bamford missing out is on the basis of him not being fit, and the fact we have three pretty good strikers there already. Excited for the tournament, hope we do some good things.

[Lineker]

Southgate only plays with one up top so three strikers was always the likely outcome.

[Baddar]

Bamford definitely needed the summer off, regardless of where he's playing next season.

[Lineker]

Mason is out of the squad injured; Cleverley has been called up as his replacement.

[Cymbols]

Fucking Cleverley (again).

[TCO]

I love ITV's coverage on the last time we met England.

Ireland took the lead before "crowd trouble" caused the match to be abandoned. That's a lovely way to put thug England fans started ripping seats out of the ground and started throwing them onto Irish fans in the bottom tier.

[DavidMarrio]

Didn't realise this was such an early kick off.

Can't wait for this to be a boring match.

[TCO]

We have Ipswich's front 2 playing for us, I reckon an England to nil win is a safe bet.

[Thrilla]

My bet on a 3-1 England win is looking a bit speculative given how the first 25 have gone.

[Thrilla]

Don't worry guys, the second half will be much better, my pizza just arrived in time for kick off >_>

[DavidMarrio]

What pizza did you get?

(Anything is more interesting than this game)

[Thrilla]

Meatball Pepperoni from Papa Johns. Wedges as a side and a Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ben and Jerries for afters.