It is now less than a fortnight until England ‘s first game in at Euro 2024 . Things get serious this week with two warm-up games after which Gareth Southgate whittles his squad down to the 26 who head to Germany with a realistic chance of winning the tournament. Who is most at risk of missing out on the final squad? Southgate is no stranger to the corrosive effect of being made to feel like you’re on trial in the run-up to a major tournament.
The circus around Paul Gascoigne before the World Cup in 1998, and the disruption of Glenn Hoddle’s badly handled decision to cut him from the squad, has stayed with him. So despite naming a 33-man training squad , the next week is not a Three Lions beauty parade for those holed up at Rockliffe Hall in Teesside. Of the seven who will miss out, the majority are likely to be those with the fewest minutes in an England shirt.
“I think we’ve got some young players who I spoke to at the start and said ‘Look, we don’t know how this will play out but let the starting point be this is going to be a great experience for you, you’re coming to train with us’,” Southgate said on Sunday. “I’ve been honest with the younger ones who it is their first time with us. [They’ve been told] the chances are you might not be coming with us.
“Equally things can happen and they can force their way in. They understand that.” That doesn’t sound like great news for James Trafford , Jarell Quansah , Curtis Jones or Adam Wharton – wh.
