Gareth Southgate’s hopes of testing his strongest team against the top two sides in the world have been dashed after England’s preparations for the friendlies with Germany and Brazil were further disrupted by the withdrawal of three more senior players.
The uncapped Jack Cork of Burnley was called up on Tuesday night after Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph all pulled out of the squad for the two matches at Wembley, with that trio all now undergoing treatment at their clubs for minor injuries. Southgate had already seen the Tottenham trio of Dele Alli (hamstring), Harry Winks (ankle) and the captain elect, Harry Kane (knock), pull out of the original 25-man party. The manager may attempt to bring in more replacements on Wednesday.
Four of those six injured players might realistically have expected to start – Liverpool’s Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne, and Danny Welbeck of Arsenal are also unavailable. Southgate’s options are now severely limited as he seeks to try out the 3-4-3 formation he envisages using at the World Cup finals.
The manager will have only two more friendlies, against Holland in Amsterdam and Italy at Wembley next March, before he has to name a provisional squad for the tournament in Russia. His 22-man party now includes five uncapped players, with the loss of so many key personnel, all from top clubs competing in the Champions League this term, a considerable blow.
Gary Cahill has at least linked up with the squad at St George’s Park having had tests on a knock picked up during Chelsea’s victory over Manchester United on Sunday, but the centre-half may only be considered for next Tuesday’s game against Brazil. The Football Association had called up Jake Livermore of West Bromwich Albion and Everton’s Michael Keane to bolster numbers following the first flurry of withdrawals. Cork, now 28 but a former under-21 international, has been an ever-present in Burnley’s fine start to the season since his £10m arrival from Swansea.
Yet the complexion of the squad is now radically different to that originally selected by Southgate, calling into question just how much he can learn from the two glamour fixtures. He may have to field a central midfield of Eric Dier and Livermore against Germany, the world champions, in a match which is expected to sell out in terms of general admission tickets on Wednesday morning. Jamie Vardy may start up front in place of Kane, who suffered a kick to a leg in Spurs’ victory over Crystal Palace.
Sterling has suffered a back complaint and Delph, who had been hoping to earn a first cap since November 2015, has injured a calf. Henderson missed Liverpool’s win at West Ham on Saturday with a thigh problem and was always due to report late to St George’s Park. He has now been released to have treatment at Melwood.
Southgate was brutally honest last week in explaining why Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Daniel Sturridge and Chris Smalling had been omitted from his original 25-man squad, pointing to a lack of playing time at club level for the first two and the perception that Smalling is not able to “use the ball from the back” to the same level as John Stones, Dier and Harry Maguire. Whether the manager feels he can now recall those players so soon remains to be seen.