Soccer

Rashford returns to England squad but United duo Sancho and Lingard miss out

Southgate names 25-man squad for World Cup games against Albania and San Marino

Marcus Rashford: the Manchester United striker returns to the England squad for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery following the Euro 2020 final. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA
Marcus Rashford: the Manchester United striker returns to the England squad for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery following the Euro 2020 final. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA
Thu Nov 04 2021 - 19:27

Marcus Rashford returns to the England squad for the first time since Euro 2020 but Manchester United team-mates Jadon Sancho and Jesse Lingard have missed out.

Gareth Southgate named a 25-man squad for the final World Cup qualifiers at home to Albania and away to minnows San Marino.

Rashford returned after undergoing shoulder surgery following the Euro 2020 final, but Lingard and Sancho were absent.

Harry Maguire, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Reece James returned from injury for this month's fixtures, although Kieran Trippier and Fikayo Tomori dropped out.

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Jude Bellingham and Kalvin Phillips came into the midfield, while Ollie Watkins was out and Mason Greenwood was again absent.

Southgate said: “Always difficult [to pick a squad] because we’ve got so much competition for places and we had quite a few players missing last time, which means you bring others in. Then you’ve got more decisions to make. Also, some young players who are playing well that haven’t quite made the squad.

“So, we’ve kept a reasonable amount of consistency, really, with the groups that they were with in the summer. They did so well, we’re only five international games on from that.

“But also there are players pushing that group really strongly. Emile [Smith-Rowe], Conor Gallagher, Marc Guehi, in particular are all playing well with their clubs and to put them in we’d have to leave some of these on the sheet out.”

ENGLAND SQUAD
 Goalkeepers: Sam Johnstone (West Bromwich Albion), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal).

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolves), Reece James (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Manchester City).

Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds), Declan Rice (West Ham), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton).

Forwards: Tammy Abraham (AS Roma), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City).