2022 FIFA World Cup

2022 World Cup Quarter-Final: How England Could Lineup Against France

Published

2 years ago

December 8, 2022

England will face the reigning world champions, France in the quarter-final in what is dubbed their stiffest test at the Qatar World Cup on Saturday night.

Infoexpert24 reports that the Three Lions have already scored 12 goals at this tournament more than France’s feted attack have mustered in Qatar.

Gareth Southgate has yet to name an unchanged XI in this tournament and that looks likely to continue against France as he hatches a plan to stop Golden Boot leader Kylian Mbappe, who might be a fitness doubt after missing training on Tuesday.

A place in the last four of the World Cup is on the line, so which England players could be tasked with starting against the reigning champions?

Here’s the XI Southgate may deploy to keep his goal-laden side in the competition.

England predicted lineup vs France (4-3-3)

GK: Jordan Pickford – After shutting out Senegal, Pickford is the first English goalkeeper to oversee three consecutive sheets at a men’s World Cup since David Seaman in 2002. Ominously, Seaman’s next match after that sequence was a quarter-final defeat.

RB: Kyle Walker – Billed as the “man to stop Mbappe” by Poland’s Matty Cash – who was left with burning legs after his head-to-head with the jet-heeled forward.

CB: John Stones – Whether Southgate opts for a back-three or sticks with his four-man rearguard, Stones is all but certain of a starting berth.

CB: Harry Maguire – Ghana’s vice president Mahamudu Bawumia was likened to Maguire as part of a strained critique from the MP Isaac Adongo in parliament this month.

LB: Luke Shaw – The Manchester United fullback ranked the England camps he missed because of minor injuries as “my biggest regret”.

CM: Jordan Henderson – One of the experienced core in England’s squad made his international debut under Fabio Capello against France in 2010. England lost 2-1.

CM: Declan Rice – While employing a liberal use of the word “faultless”, Rice hit back at critics that don’t give his side “the credit we deserve in our performances”.

CM: Jude Bellingham – Arguably England’s best performer this winter didn’t start playing football until 2010. At the time he “didn’t really enjoy it”. He certainly does now.

RW: Bukayo Saka – Ever the humble young man, Saka was quick to play down comparisons to France’s star winger. “Thank you for your compliment,” Saka said ahead of the quarter-final, “but no…I think there’s only one Kylian Mbappe!”

ST: Harry Kane – Just one goal shy of Wayne Rooney’s all-time record for the England national team, Kane has already eclipsed Gary Lineker’s total of major tournament goals for the Three Lions.

LW: Phil Foden – Despite playing less than half of the available minutes, three-quarters of England’s World Cup goals have come while Foden has been on the pitch.

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