In 2013, 'The England XI that will win the 2022 World Cup' was predicted – it hasn't aged well

The draw for the 2022 World Cup finals takes place on April 1.

Regardless of who England are drawn to face in their group, they will go into the tournament as one of the favourites.

The Three Lions reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 before suffering a heartbreaking defeat in the Euro 2020 final.

They will be looking to go one better in Qatar and they have the squad needed to win it all.

Back in 2013, Simon Rice of the Independent made the bold prediction that England will emerge victorious in Qatar.

Rice then predicted the 11 players that will lead England to glory in the tournament.

Nine years have passed since Rice’s prediction and, with the World Cup occurring later this year, we’ve decided to revisit the XI he picked. It hasn’t aged well at all…

GK: Jack Butland

In 2013, a 20-year-old Butland had just made the £3.5 million move from Birmingham to Stoke City.

He initially showed promise with the Potters but failed to kick on. He’s now Crystal Palace’s back-up goalkeeper and has just nine England caps to his name.

LB: Luke Shaw

This is the best prediction of the lot. Despite a poor 2021/22 campaign, Shaw is almost guaranteed to be on the plane and will be fighting over the left-back spot with Ben Chilwell.

CB: Nathaniel Chalobah

Chalobah now plays for Fulham in the Championship. He’s a one-cap-wonder, having played his only game for England against Spain in 2018.

His younger brother, Trevoh, has a much greater chance of making England’s World Cup squad.

CB: Phil Jones

Jones is still at Manchester United but very rarely plays. A series of injuries means he’s only played 10 games for the club in the last three seasons.

He has 27 England caps to his name – the most recent of which came in 2018.

RB: Chris Smalling

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