England official World Cup squad numbers reveal possible starting XI | OneFootball

England’s World Cup squad numbers have been revealed and they hint at a starting XI that will not please Anthony Gordon or Morgan Rogers.

England’s 26-man World Cup squad have been allocated their numbers, with Djed Spence and Jarrell Quansah possibly the most obvious 25 and 26 in history.

Reece James takes the 24 shirt, which something of a red herring as we expect him to start at right-back if he is fit.

But with his fitness always in question, the players allocated shirts 1-11 do pleasingly make a coherent starting XI.

It’s worth noting that at Euro 2024, the first game of the tournament featured 10 of the players wearing shirts 1-11, with Kieran Trippier the only interloper ahead of Luke Shaw.

Of that starting XI from 2024, seven players retain their shirts; the exceptions are Kyle Walker, Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold (ludicrously the No. 8) and Phil Foden.

There had been some ludicrous talk that Jude Bellingham would not start for England at this World Cup, but he has been allocated the No. 10 shirt, while Rogers has been given the rather less iconic No. 17 shirt.

One of the most intriguing battles for a starting place will be Marcus Rashford v Gordon, with the former Barcelona loanee drawing first blood with the allocation of the no. 11 shirt ahead of Gordon, who will take his place at Barcelona next season after a £69m move from Newcastle United which is already the biggest transfer of the summer.

Many of the players were due to fly to Miami on Monday evening for a 10-day hot weather pre-tournament acclimatisation camp.

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze have been given more time to recover after Saturday’s Champions League final loss to Paris St Germain in Budapest and will delay their departure.

Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson, who helped the London club win the Conference League final last week, is also expected to be a later arrival and miss a friendly against New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday.

The other 21 players, some of them on holiday in the Americas and Caribbean, will meet up in West Palm Beach.

Full England squad numbers for World Cup