England, the United States, Iran and the European Playoff winner will make up World Cup Group B at Qatar 2022.
Confederation: UEFAFIFA ranking: 5Team nickname: The Three LionsPrevious World Cup appearances: 15Honours: World Cup (1): 1966Head coach: Gareth SouthgateStar players: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Phil Foden (Man City), Raheem Sterling (Man City)
Having come so close to adding to their solitary international title in the last two major tournaments, England will be looking to finally end 56 years of hurt in Qatar.
Runners-up at Euro 2020 following a penalty shootout defeat v Italy which followed on from their fourth-place finish at the 2018 World Cup, Gareth Southgate’s side continues to mix youth with experience – developing stars such as Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho provide a balance to the more established players whilst more talent in the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka will push for their place. Fifteen of Southgate’s squad at Euro 2020 had never featured at a major tournament before being named whilst only hosts Russia named a younger squad at the 2018 World Cup.
Southgate will also hope that Harry Kane, Golden Boot winner in 2018 (6 goals), can continue his relentless scoring for the national side – Kane has 48 goals in 67 caps (as of March 8) and sits just one behind Bobby Charlton and five behind all-time top scorer Wayne Rooney.
Kevin Kilbane's take: “I felt going into the Euro last year that England had the most talented group of attacking players. The question mark was probably over the goalkeeper and maybe defensively – could they keep sides out? And they actually had a very good defensive record throughout the Euro because it was something that Gareth Southgate worked on. Raheem Sterling
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