Grealish and Gascoigne will leave Gerrard with work to do for England G-Team | OneFootball

Four current players line-up alongside a few all-time greats of the game for an England G-Team that blends grit with guile.

Goalkeeper: Rob Green

Rob Green’s international debut in a 3-2 win over Colombia back in 2005 saw him become the fourth England G goalkeeper and the first for 84 years. He quickly became the most capped of the quartet, with Leslie Gay, Bill George and Harold Gough managing just seven appearances for the Three Lions between them.

Green’s howler against the USA in the 2010 World Cup put an end to his chances of becoming Fabio Capello’s first choice and he only lined up once more for his country, winning his 12th and final cap in Roy Hodgson’s maiden match as England boss.

Right-back: Roy Goodall

A member of the first English team to win three top-flight titles in a row, Roy Goodall helped Huddersfield Town to that incredible feat in the twenties and made his first international appearance shortly before the Terriers completed their historic hat-trick.

Goodall quickly established himself in the Three Lions side and became captain in 1928. His maiden game as skipper ended in a 5-1 defeat to Scotland but his next match saw him on the right end of that scoreline with an emphatic victory over France. The FA’s arrogant refusal to participate in the first ever World Cup back in 1930 resulted in Goodall missing out on becoming the first man to lead England at the tournament.

Centre-back: Brian Greenhoff

A key figure for Manchester United during a turbulent decade at Old Trafford, Brian Greenhoff helped the Red Devils to promotion in 1975 before claiming FA Cup glory two years later, by which time he had established himself in Don Revie’s Three Lions side. The same couldn’t be said of his gifted older brother, whose winning goal in that final prevented Liverpool from becoming the first English club to win the treble.

Jimmy Greenhoff is undoubtedly one of the finest players to have never won a senior cap, with his omission from the England side during an era of misery at Wembley remaining a mystery.

Centre-back: Marc Guehi

Cup tied for Man City’s Wembley win over Arsenal, maybe Marc Guehi can make up for missing out on the League Cup by lifting the World Cup in July. Guehi looks set to become England’s number one centre-back for the remainder of the decade but his spot in the G-Team was secured long ago, with a lack of options in the middle of defence. Joe Gomez provides cover, whilst Anthony Gardner and Ben Godfrey battle it out for the fourth-choice spot.

Left-back: Kieran Gibbs

Gomez could always fill in at left-back, but there are some recognised number threes available for the G-Team. Kieran Gibbs takes the shirt as the most capped of the lot, with 10 appearances for the Three Lions. Nineties Sunderland star Micky Gray picked up three caps under Kevin Keegan and QPR legend Ian Gillard also made a few appearances for England in the seventies during Don Revie’s tenure. Going even further back, Tommy Garrett was picked by Walter Winterbottom in the early fifties, with the Blackpool full-back making his international debut a year before he featured in the famous FA Cup Final of 1953

Central midfield: Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher takes a spot in midfield but if he ends up being a part of the side that relegates Spurs for the first time in almost fifty years, there may well be a G-Team jig around. His potential replacement is someone who led Tottenham out of the second tier back in 1920. Arthur Grimsdell spent nearly two decades at White Hart Lane and captained the club to FA Cup glory a year after their promotion. Wolves were the defeated side in the final of ’21 and their current on-loan midfielder Angel Gomes takes a spot on the bench.

Central midfield: Steven Gerrard

Whist Gallagher’s position is under threat, Steven Gerrard’s spot in this side is incontestable. The Liverpool legend is by far and away the most capped player eligible for this side, with double the number of his nearest challengers.

A firm fixture amongst the famous names of England’s Golden Generation, Gerrard was part of six tournament squads, with his first coming shortly after his debut at the turn of the century. He went on to captain the side 38 times but unfortunately his international career ended in disappointment following a winless run at the 2014 World Cup.

Attacking midfield: Paul Gascoigne

Whilst Gerrard won his last cap in a gloomy group stage exit, Paul Gascoigne didn’t get the chance to say goodbye on the grandest stage of them all. The supremely gifted star of those memorable semi-final runs at Italia ’90 and Euro ’96, Gascoigne’s shock omission from Glenn Hoddle’s World Cup squad in 1998 marked the end of an eminent England era. The tears, talent and temperament of the Gateshead-born genius remain iconic for a generation of Three Lions fans.

Winger: Jack Grealish

Come September, Jack Grealish will the same age as Gascoigne was when he won his last England cap and it remains to be seen if he’s still in Thomas Tuchel’s plans when the Nations League returns that month. Despite being part of a treble-winning side, the majority of Grealish’s international appearances have come from the bench, with Gareth Southgate naming him as a substitute in every game of the Three Lions’ previous World Cup campaign in 2022.

If Grealish and Gascoigne in the same side proves too chaotic, then Nottingham Forest’s number 10 Morgan Gibbs-White can side-line the Man City man again

Winger: Anthony Gordon

Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon completes the quartet of present-day players in this side, but there are a few heroes of yesteryear on the bench in the forward positions. Arsenal’s 1971 FA Cup winner Charlie George is a one-cap wonder, Ipswich Town legend Eric Gates waits in reserve and Preston North End invincible John Goodall is another option in attack. Goodall was top scorer in the inaugural season of the Football League back in 1889, as the Lilywhites went undefeated and picked up the first ever domestic double with a 3-0 win over Wolves in the FA Cup.

Striker: Jimmy Greaves

The dire displays against Uruguay and Japan in this international break have shown why Harry Kane sits atop the England ladder, with the thought of the Three Lions challenging for the World Cup without their star striker seemingly impossible.

However, that’s exactly what happened 60 years ago. Jimmy Greaves was regarded as one of the best players on the planet in his heyday, with four top ten finishes in the Ballon d’Or. The Spurs striker started the first few games of the 1966 tournament, but an injury in the final group game against France left him sidelined for the quarters. Geoff Hurst was his replacement and managed to keep the starting spot for the final despite Greaves’ return to fitness.

Hurst, who only had five caps to his name before that famous summer, was the hero against West Germany, bagging a hat-trick for Alf Ramsey’s men. Meanwhile Greaves had to wait until 2009 before he even got a winners’ medal. It’s a funny old game!