England’s road to the World Cup starts for real

There are just 62 days until the Three Lions kick off their tournament against Iran, writes Ben Burrows

Gareth Southgate has kept faith with his core group (PA)

England’s World Cup hopefuls are set to get one last chance to impress before Gareth Southgate picks his squad for Qatar.

There are just 62 days until the Three Lions kick off their tournament against Iran with just two matches between now and then for those on the fringes of selection to catch the manager’s eye.

They come in the form of clashes with Italy and Germany over the next week, two contests that will go a long way to deciding who will make up the squad in November and who will miss out, but will also give a steer on where the team are at as a whole ahead of their latest tilt at a trophy.

The most up-to-date read on the latter isn’t all that great after a hugely disappointing four-game run to close out last season.

Draws with this week’s opponents, in Germany and at Molineux, in June were bookended by shock defeats to Hungary, 1-0 in Budapest and 4-0 back home 10 days later.

Should they lose to Italy in Milan on Friday they will be relegated from their Nations League group and while that would be less than ideal going forward, the impact on World Cup preparations would be far more damaging.

Southgate, as he so often has done over his tenure, has kept faith with his core group to lift themselves out of their current slump with Brentford striker Ivan Toney the only new face chosen to inject some fresh spark.

Marcus Rashford misses out through injury after a long-awaited return to form, but Manchester United teammate Jadon Sancho’s own good run has gone unrewarded.

With so little time between now and the big kick off this week represents a final shot for those with dreams of a place in the squad; a last chance to show what they could do if given the opportunity on the biggest stage. Good performances in these matches will go a long way to making those dreams a reality.

After what seems like a lifetime of waiting for it, for England and Southgate, the road to Qatar for real starts here.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor