World Cup 2022 LIVE: England reveal squad for Qatar today

England manager Gareth Southgate will reveal his World Cup squad on Thursday having taken a final decision on the form and fitness of key players and those that made a late charge to be on the plane to Qatar.

All eyes will be on the national team’s social media channels at 2pm as the 26-strong selection heading to the Gulf is announced before the Three Lions boss explains his choices to the media at St George’s Park.

England’s Group B opener will be only 11 days away when Southgate reveals his squad for a tournament that has been unceremoniously wedged into the middle of the season.

Can Gareth Southgate actually lead England to World Cup glory?

The manager has come the closest so far since he took over the national side in 2016. The 52-year-old has taken the Three Lions to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the final of Euro 2020.

In the 76 matches he has been in charge, Southgate has won 46, drawn 17 and lost 13. This will be his third major tournament in charge, can he take England one step further this time around?

Ben Chilwell’s injury means he is going to miss the entire World Cup. As it stands Luke Shaw is the only specialised left-back expected to be included in the 26-man squad but will Gareth Southgate bring in a back-up?

Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell, Tottenham’s Ryan Sessegnon or even Newcastle’s Dan Burn could fit the bill, then there is the adaptable Kieran Trippier who has played there before for England.

Will something go for a specialist back-up or stick and twist with Trippier?

Georgia Stanway expects England to face a tough test against “technically unbelievable” Japan in their friendly on Friday.

The Lionesses continue their preparations for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year by facing Japan and then Norway at the Pinatar Arena in Spain.

And Stanway, who currently plays for German side Bayern Munich, is excited for the challenge that awaits the European champions.

“I think Japan are technically unbelievable. They’re almost like Spain in the way they pop the ball (around), the way they move,” she told Sky Sports.

Before Gareth Southgate makes his squad announcement, here’s a look at where England stand with the bookies to win the whole World Cup.

There’s no surprises that Brazil are the favourites but at 7/1 England are being well backed too.

Switzerland, Mexico, Serbia: 90/1

South Korea, Canada, Ghana, Japan, Cameroon, Morocco: 300/1

Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Australia: 500/1

Oh hello. The Telegraph’s Matt Law is reporting that James Maddison has been included in the 26-man squad.

That would be a big surprise despite all the noise saying he should be there. Maddison has made no secret of his desire to go to this year’s World Cup but he only has one cap at international level and hasn’t featured since 2019.

Sky Sports News are reporting that Newcastle’s Callum Wilson will be confirmed in the squad for England leading more legitamacy to the earlier reports that this was the case.

Wilson’s inclusion means Ivan Toney and Tammy Abraham look set to miss out.

The ever reliable Neil Warnock has picked the players he would take to Qatar ahead of Gareth Southgate’s announcement. He’s even made an exceptional graphic to show off his picks.

Roberto Martinez has named his Belgium squad for the World Cup. The Belgians will be hoping to capitalise on this great generation of players and hopefully win a major trophy.

This is the squad Martinez thinks can do it:

If social media often seems like quite a grim place, Brentford’s Sergi Canos offers quite a nice story. It shows the power of the medium, and the game itself.

As a boyhood Valencia fan, Canos had naturally been following his hero, Juan Mata. That has also led him to follow Common Goal, the collective social impact movement that enables people in football to donate one per cent of their earnings to community initiatives, and now has 250 players and managers from 50 nationalities, almost half of which are women. Canos had wanted to sign up but, rather humbly, felt he wasn’t a big enough player when Brentford were in the Championship. Common Goal’s Sam Cook had got wind of his interest, however, clicked on the player’s Instagram account and saw Canos already followed them. The next step was obvious. A message was sent, and Canos has now become the latest footballer to sign up to Common Goal.

“I’ve known Common Goal for a long time,” the 25-year-old tells The Independent. “And just the fact that we were making the step into the Premier League, it made me want to do bigger things.”