England squad announced for Nations League games
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Scott, Cole Palmer and Rio Ngumoha are in. There is no place for Phil Foden.
Full squad to come below.
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, James Trafford, Jason Steele
Defenders: Trent Alexander Arnold, Jarrod Branthwaite, Trevor Chalobah, Marc Guehi, Lewis Hall, Ezri Konsa, Tino Livramento, Nico O’Reilly, Jarrell Quansah
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson, Jude Bellingham, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Alex Scott
Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, Rio Ngumoha, Marcus Rashford, Morgan Rogers, Bukayo Saka.
Key events
Gianni Infantino must leave the Fifa presidency “no ifs or buts”, according to Hans-Joachim Watzke, one of the vice-presidents of the German Football Association (DFB), as he spoke at a festival dedicated to artificial intelligence in Berlin on Thursday.
The DFB was one of the few federations not to sign a letter of support for Infantino’s re-election as Fifa president in six months’ time. “He has to go, no ifs or buts,” said Watzke, who said that three points in particular counted against the Swiss.
The first was the Fifa Peace Prize, launched by Infantino and awarded in December 2025 to the US president, Donald Trump, to whom Infantino is close, during the draw for the 2026 World Cup. Infantino “created this prize himself, and he decided on it himself,” said Watzke. “You can’t just invent something on your own and then announce it, it’s madness,” said Watzke.
Watzke also condemned the controversial handling of the Folarin Balogun red card during this year’s World Cup which was hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico. The American forward was sent off in the last 32 but his automatic one-match suspension was lifted after a phone call from Trump to Infantino. “It can’t be that when someone gets sent off, the head of state calls the Fifa president, and, remarkably, the whole thing is immediately overturned. That’s madness,” said Watzke.
The third issue was the project, unveiled on 28 July and dropped four days later, to create a commercial company that would have been open to private investors and became a focal point of the rebellion against Infantino. “It’s completely insane,” said Watzke. “Nobody knew about it, his vice-presidents in Fifa knew nothing, the [Fifa] council knew nothing.”
The DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said earlier in the week that it was also time for Infantino to depart. “The relationship of trust with Gianni Infantino, under this FIFA leadership, has of course been completely shattered,” he said in an interview with RTL/ntv television. “It’s important that this Infantino system comes to an end.”
For now, Infantino is the only candidate for the FIFA presidency in the election scheduled for 18 March 2027, with candidacies open until 18 November.
This time tomorrow we will be 8 minutes away from kick-off at The Den where West Ham and Millwall will renew their rivalry. The Metropolitan police have been granted special powers to tackle violence as the south and east London teams meet again for the first time in 14 years.
There is nothing to glorify here. This will be the 100th competitive meeting, if discontinued, minor tournaments are included, and anyone failing to see the logic behind the rivalry can be forgiven. The sides are not on each other’s doorstep and Millwall are south of the Thames, meaning Crystal Palace and Charlton are more obvious enemies. Yet it is not really about football. The tribalism runs deep, dating back to when the clubs were formed by rival shipbuilding firms at docks on the Isle of Dogs in east London, and is more down to hooligan elements than anything that happens on the pitch.
There have been many occasions when the nastiness has spiralled out of control. Hooliganism was rife in English football during the 1970s and 1980s and Millwall and West Ham had fearsome firms. Trouble erupted when the sides met at the Den for a testimonial for the Millwall defender Harry Cripps in 1972. The toxicity grew and a Millwall fan, Ian Pratt, died after a clash with West Ham fans at New Cross station in 1976. It is worth keeping in mind when people try to hype up this fixture. Stories about who was top dog on the terraces back in the day are not that interesting.
Read more from Jacob Steinberg below.
The new Belgium coach Mark van Bommel on named his first squad for their four Nations League matches, retaining the core of the World Cup selection.
Van Bommel, who has replaced Rudi Garcia, added eight players who did not take part in the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the US as he named a 28-man squad for matches against Italy, France (twice), and Turkey between 25 September and 5 October.
Belgium must do without first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who asked to be excused from the Nations League campaign to regulate his playing time at the age of 34. Jérémy Doku, who was seen as a key player for the World Cup campaign but had a disappointing tournament, misses out due to injury, as does Amadou Onana.
Attacker Alexis Saelemaekers and veteran defender Thomas Meunier have been dropped while Axel Witsel has retired from international football. The uncapped players in the squad include goalkeepers Jari De Busser, Mike Penders and Maarten Vandevoordt and the 21-year-old full-back Kyriani Sabbe.
At the World Cup, Belgium reached the quarter-finals, being eliminated after a 2–1 defeat to eventual champions Spain. Belgium were ultimately the only team to score a goal against Spain throughout the latter’s victorious World Cup campaign.
Full squad:
Goalkeepers: Jari De Busser (AZ Alkmaar), Senne Lammens (Manchester United), Mike Penders (Chelsea), Maarten Vandevoordt (RB Leipzig).
Defenders: Timothy Castagne (Fulham), Zeno Debast (Sporting Lisbon), Maxim De Cuyper (Brighton), Koni De Winter (Milan), Brandon Mechele (Club Brugge), Nathan Ngoy (Lille), Kyriani Sabbe (Club Brugge), Joaquin Seys (Club Brugge), Arthur Theate (Bologna).
Midfielders: Kevin De Bruyne (Napoli), Mandela Keita (Parma), Romeo Lavia (Chelsea), Nicolas Raskin (Rangers), Youri Tielemans (Manchester United), Hans Vanaken (Club Brugge).
Forwards: Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta), Matias Fernandez-Pardo (Newcastle), Malick Fofana (Sunderland), Mika Godts (Paris Saint-Germain), Romelu Lukaku (Fenerbahce), Dodi Lukebakio (Benfica), Diego Moreira (Milan), Lois Openda (Olympique Lyonnais), Leandro Trossard (Besiktas).
Thanks, Dave and hello all. Belgium have also announced their squad for their upcoming Nations League matches …
That’s my brief stint of 60 minutes. Just enough playing time to secure two fantasy points. Yara El-Shaboury has been running shuttles down the touchline and on she comes…
De la Fuente announces squad from city at centre of migration crisis
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente announced his Nations League squad from Ceuta on Friday in a show of support for the Spanish city in northern Africa that has become the centre of a migration crisis.
For his first squad announcement since Spain won the World Cup , De la Fuente revealed his list in a video featuring him in Ceuta accompanied by residents of the Spanish exclave. In late July, over 70,000 people pushed across the border from Morocco, with more than 100 dying in the chaos. Most quickly returned, but a few thousand remain in the city of just over 80,000.
De la Fuente did not directly mention the border crossing or its impact, but he did say: “This is Ceuta, this is Spain.” It echoed the rise in sentiment in Spain that Ceuta – a territory that until the mass crossing was mostly an afterthought for most mainland Spaniards – needs to be supported.
Spain open the Nations League against England at Wembley Stadium on 26 September, when its players will wear two stars on their shirts for the first time after winning a second world title.
After visiting London, Spain will host Croatia on 29 September and the Czech Republic on 3 October, before visiting Croatia three says later.
Del la Fuente kept his World Cup squad mostly intact. Inter Milan goalkeeper Josep Martínez replaced Barcelona’s Joan García, who is out with a minor knee issue. Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen is in for Marcos Llorente, who retired from international soccer.
Fermín López replaced fellow Barcelona midfielder Gavi, while Espanyol striker Roberto Fernández got his first call-up, replacing Borja Iglesias.
Ceuta is one of two Spanish territories on the north African coast along with Melilla. Ceuta has been in Spanish possession since 1580. Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers all live there in relative harmony behind a border fence that many migrants from across Africa attempt to cross or swim around for a better life in Europe. (AP)
Ben Watson gets in touch on email to lament the continued exclusion of Morgan Gibbs-White. It does seem a strange one. Tuchel just doesn’t fancy him, it seems.
As a Forest fan, I worry what this might mean for MGW and us. He must be devastated. He’s been our best player for three years, even when Elliot Anderson was at the club. He would have commanded a £80m fee from Spurs or maybe Man City. But we resisted.
But he’s now both in the form of us life, but being omitted in favour of Arsenal players who don’t ever start (Eze/Madueke) and a 17-year old from Liverpool. It’s incredibly harsh, and I imagine he’ll be wondering what he has to do.
Oh, one more thing on Trent. Tuchel is asked by Henry Winter if Alexander-Arnold could be an option for midfield as well.
“He comes as a right-back,” says the German succinctly.
Tuchel is asked if he plans to make any adjustments to the team’s style of play. Do his team need to control games more?
That would be the wish, and sometimes I think, is this us? That would be the wish, that we become for 10 minutes a little bit more like Spain here and there. But the more I reflect on it, it’s maybe more buying into our strengths and play more minutes like we played in the second half against Croatia, play more minutes like we played in the first half against France, and buying into these strengths, because I think we get a lot of value out of it, we get a lot of connection to the fans, this is what the Premier League reflects.
But, yeah, football is about adapting to situations, and football without any control is sometimes hard to digest for a coach, if you look at the 6-4 against France. But people talk about it like it’s one of their nicest experiences ever, to watch a football match, so maybe I have to compromise in my wish, in my urge for control, for a little bit more chaos, embrace the chaos, and maybe it brings out the best.
We will adjust our style, but always to put the strengths of the players on the first priority.
Tuchel: ‘99.9% of fans don’t speak about substitutions’
A blunt question for Tuchel to field. He’s asked what happened in his meetings with his bosses at the FA?
The German says with a glint in his eye: “I got told off, of course, for the substitutions that I made. Just joking.” And then the full reveal…
We had several reviews, which is good to do, which is a bit unusual to do because you don’t have the time in club football to do so many reviews, but it’s a part of moving forward and it’s a part to learn. It’s sometimes painful, sometimes emotional, sometimes beautiful, because people speak up and they speak about situations, about moments that you had not so high on your priority list that meant the world to them, so it’s beautiful.
I can just tell you very honestly that I felt the full support from all my bosses through the World Cup, through the whole tournament. There was a moment, a very special moment, before the Mexico game where we had a talk and my bosses told me, ‘we know that anything can happen in a football match and we know that anything can happen in a match in Mexico, in a World Cup match, but don’t worry, we see what’s going on and we want to continue like this’.
This was a beautiful moment for me as a coach and I felt this kind of freedom to take my choices and to just coach freely and there was never a doubt in my mind that we will continue together and there was obviously never a doubt in their mind.
We have critical reviews that will stay, of course, behind closed doors. I am the biggest critic of myself and reflection is sometimes necessary to get better and experience is a crucial part of coaching, so this is where we are.
I tell you something, 99.9% of the fans don’t speak about substitutions, tactical twists and tactical things. They speak about where they have watched the Mexico game, they speak about the second half, the energy of the Croatia match, they speak about how nerve-wracking it was to watch our match against Congo and where they celebrated. This is the feedback that I get and it’s 99.9% and I think this is what we created and this is how it should be.
This is what a World Cup is for, to connect with the people and to give them experiences that they will not forget. This is the feedback that I get. It makes me proud, it makes me happy because we share, even if it’s just in the cab or in the coffee place or in the supermarket, you share these little moments and you understand that it actually meant something and that what the players built was transmitted and this is what we want to build.
Here’s Tuchel on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s return. These are from the FA website.
It’s an opportunity for Trent of course, He had a good start to the season, I would say. He started some matches for Real Madrid. They have good results and it’s a chance for him to claim what he feels is yours, his place on the right side, so here we go. It’s a long camp, four matches and we’re happy to have him back.
More from Tuchel on a couple of players who were close but didn’t make it. That’ll be Arsenal’s Ben White and Fulham’s Josh King.
Ben pulled out with an injury. He had a fantastic start with Arsenal to the season and was back to his very best on the side as a pair especially with Bukayo Saka which could be very valuable for us to have two players on the side but he was unfortunately not available for the World Cup and is not available now.
It is unfortunately a little bit of a story with Ben that in the decisive moments or in the moments when we do the call-ups he is not available.
Nice that you mentioned Josh King because we had three players in prep camp with us in the U.S. – Alex Scott, Rio (Ngumoha) and Josh… all three of them were fantastic members of the squad not only because they were nice and reliable and excellent characters but they showed the quality and the courage and the curiosity on the pitch which was very nice to see.
Josh especially had a fantastic start to the season with Fulham which was very, very close but in the end it felt like we keep the squad tight and give the players that come into camp, let’s say on Josh’s position, on the number 10 position with Cole (Palmer) and with Jude (Bellingham) so they have our trust and Josh is therefore with under-21s but he was very close and is on the radar.
Thomas Tuchel is speaking to the press. He’s asked if the door is always open to those who didn’t make it.
The door is always open. Yeah, 100%. The door is always open. The door is always open first and foremost through performance and then on the same level through behaviour and commitment to the team spirit because we build something very special.
First, before we did the nomination in the last month I thought we have more of a continuation of the World Cup squad but then a lot of members of our World Cup squad I just wrote it down, Reece (James), Dan (Burn), Dean Henderson, John Stones, Hendo (Jordan Henderson), Djed Spence can’t be with us due to injuries so it is not like a full continuation.
We have to… new players will step up because these players were crucial, crucial for us in building the brotherhood, in building the spirit and taking care of the mentality that took us a long way in the tournament and we will not negotiate on that, we will not give in on that and compromise on that. So other players will step up, this is basically how I see this camp, other players will step up, players will step up and get a lot of minutes so my mindset at the moment is not to change too much within the formations, within the match if possible but be also of course reliable and of course if it doesn’t make sense to play the players too much we will not overload them.
And coming back to your questions the door is always open and the door is always open to impress and the door is always open to take the place.
Thanks Dom. Let’s go back to the Tommy T debate. Dan Pressland offers some support for the German.
As disappointed as I was by the Argentina semi, I feel compelled to offer at least some pushback against the criticism of Tuchel. The Mexico match felt to me like one we would have lost under Southgate, and are we really in a position to fire someone who was ten minutes away from getting England to the World Cup Final? I would argue that finishing third despite clearly having room to improve is a cause for optimism rather than recriminations, and unlike Southgate I have some faith Tuchel is capable of learning from his mistakes. Only time will tell, of course, but I think giving him another chance is reasonable.
And hear to guide you through that presser, and more updates, is David Tindall. Over to you, good sir.
Thomas Tuchel’s press conference is live from 11am BST so stay tuned for updates that. It should be interesting to hear him asked about the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer, and what has changed his mind on those players and others.
Lewis Hall is definitely one I’d like him to be questioned on. The Newcastle left-back was supreme last season and surely merited a World Cup spot given the lack of other left-backs selected. What has changed between then and now?
Inter have just been mentioned, so that’s a good excuse to plug this nice interview by Nicky Bandini with Milan legend Alessandro Costacurta, who has been speaking about saying goodbye to the iconic San Siro.
An email from Adrian Riley has highlighted another glaring omission from Tuchel’s England squad:
I thought one of England’s most improved players at the World Cup was Djed Spence, after being surprised he made the squad. Now, sold by Tottenham, dropped by England. I get that he wanted more playing time than he was getting at Spurs, but why isn’t he in the squad?
Spence did have an injury, Adrian, which has meant he’s not yet played for Inter. It will be interesting to see whether he features against Roma tomorrow.
Arteta: Pro Ref must ‘try to improve’ after Arsenal meeting
Ed Aarons
Mikel Arteta has refused to divulge the details of Arsenal’s meeting with Pro Ref after they complained about the penalty awarded to Sunderland last week.
It is understood that the referees’ body has been in touch with the Premier League champions after they requested clarification over the decision at the Stadium of Light in Arsenal’s 2-0 win.
“This is a conversation that will remain private as usual,” said Arteta.
Asked whether he wanted Pro Ref to apologise like it did to Manchester United after Erling Haaland’s goal was incorrectly awarded in last week’s Manchester derby, he said: “It’s not about the apology, it’s just agreeing that the decision should have been different or not. Maybe they have a different opinion and try to improve and move forward together.”
It’s worth mentioning that Dan Burn, Dean Henderson, Jordan Henderson, John Stones and Ben White are all injured, so might have been picked otherwise. We know Tuchel loves having Henderson (the midfielder) in his squad.
Another startling absence is Reece James, who isn’t believed to be injured. Tuchel could simply be managing his minutes, given how many fitness issues the Chelsea captain has had.
Your emails are now pouring in – mostly on the subject of England’s World Cup failings rather than this squad announcement, but there’s time.
David Hopkins weighs in on the Tuchel debate:
Just to join in the Tuchel pile-in, wasn’t the specific selling point that he would be the one to get England over the line in tight games, in the way that Southgate couldn’t? It looked like maybe that was happening in the Mexico game (albeit through the medium of Dan Burn’s massive head), but the Argentina cave-in was far worse than any of Southgate’s perceived inertia. I was genuinely surprised he hadn’t been sacked when I woke up the next morning, and I’m not sure his chippy interviews since will have bought him much goodwill.
Morgan Gibbs-White, Harry Maguire and Phil Foden, then, are the main players out in the cold, having also been shunned by Tuchel in the summer.
It’s also interesting that Tuchel has retained Kobbie Mainoo, who has started the season brightly for Manchester United, having taken him to the World Cup without giving him any minutes. Surely Mainoo will feature in the coming four games at some point.
It seems Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice will remain Tuchel’s first choice midfield duo, but then there is Mainoo, Lewis-Skelly – who is considered a midfielder rather than a left-back – and Scott to compete with.
That full squad is now in the post below. Slight correction, with Eze actually in despite several outlets reporting that he wouldn’t be.
I make that eight players who weren’t in the World Cup party involved: Alexander-Arnold, Branthwaite, Hall, Lewis-Skelly, Scott and Calvert-Lewin. Jason Steele and Rio Ngumoha were with the squad at times in the summer, but weren’t officially named in the 26.
England squad announced for Nations League games
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Scott, Cole Palmer and Rio Ngumoha are in. There is no place for Phil Foden.
Full squad to come below.
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, James Trafford, Jason Steele
Defenders: Trent Alexander Arnold, Jarrod Branthwaite, Trevor Chalobah, Marc Guehi, Lewis Hall, Ezri Konsa, Tino Livramento, Nico O’Reilly, Jarrell Quansah
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson, Jude Bellingham, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Alex Scott
Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, Rio Ngumoha, Marcus Rashford, Morgan Rogers, Bukayo Saka.
This was Alex Scott’s first major interview, back in 2023. He’s been tipped for the top for a good while.
It seems Thomas Tuchel has a fair bit of making up to do after his costly decisions in England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina (yes, I’m mentioning it, sorry).
An email from James in Bangkok reflects what some supporters are clearly feeling regarding the manager:
Anyone else feeling like we’ve seen through Tuchel already? Seems a bit embarrassing that he’s still there, naming squads, trying to battle our ‘loser’ DNA. When we already know, that when it really comes down to it, he’s a bottle job.
It’s a salient point, James. Tuchel definitely needs to prove England can cut the mustard against better teams, rather than shrink into their shells like they did in Atlanta in July.
A few outlets are reporting that Alex Scott is set to be named in the England squad. The Bournemouth midfielder has started the season impressively, after being linked with Chelsea and others in the summer, and registered a Player of the Match performance in the Cherries’ win over Real Sociedad in the Europa League last night.
The 23-year-old is uncapped at senior international level, though has represented England Under-21s on 11 occasions. Born in Guernsey, he came through the ranks at Bristol City after moving from the Channel Island.
How on earth, with all due respect, are Hull City fourth in the Premier League?
WhoScored’s Harry Paterson has attempted to explain the Tigers’ rapid start, which is confounding most onlookers.
It’s been a harrowing start to the season for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos.
Manchester United’s women are bottom of the WSL after two games, Michael Carrick is already under pressure after an unconvincing early spell in the Premier League was compounded by a League Cup defeat to Brighton in midweek, while Sir Jim’s other football projects, Nice and Lausanne, are both also rock bottom of their respective leagues in France and Switzerland.
“Built for more,” is a slogan Ineos have used in the past. The aforementioned teams sure need a bit more than they’ve produced so far this season.
Tom Garry
Manchester United women’s head coach, Eva Olid, says her side’s difficult start will help them become stronger and that she is undeterred by criticism of their opening two defeats.
The former Hearts manager, who arrived at United in August, endured a 5-0 loss against Chelsea last Sunday after beginning with a 2-1 defeat at London City Lionesses.
“The beginning, how you start, doesn’t define you [for] the rest of the season,” Olid said before Saturday’s tough-looking trip to face Arsenal.
“Two or three matches don’t define you, how you are or how you are going to be as a team. There have been transition changes but we know where we go, the direction and we know how we are doing will give us the success in the long term.
“All the teams, through the season, have a difficult moment. Our difficult moment is the start. But we are learning as a team to grow because the difficult moments make you grow. And once we are past this difficult moment and start our momentum, we will be so much better than without the difficult moment.”
Some match reports from last night’s action, as Crystal Palace and Bournemouth enjoyed themselves in the Europa League; the same cannot be said for Celtic. Meanwhile, Manchester City’s youngsters had a fun evening out in the Carabao Cup against Norwich.
The England squad should be announced at 10am (BST), with Tuchel chatting to the media at 11am. The expectation is that Chelsea’s Cole Palmer will be named in that squad, having of course missed out on the World Cup.
It will be interesting to see who else comes in from the cold, and who doesn’t make the cut. Alex Scott and Morgan Gibbs-White are two names in contention.
Preamble
Happy Friday to you all and welcome along to another live news blog, which today will take in the naming of the first post-World Cup England squad by Thomas Tuchel. The Three Lions are preparing for a bumper international break, which includes Uefa Nations League games against Spain, Czech Republic (twice) and Croatia. Just nobody mention the Argentina semi-final, OK?
That also means this is the last set of Premier League fixtures for a whole three weeks – 10 October is when it all resumes again – with plenty of teams hoping to head into the extended break on a high note. Brentford v Chelsea kicks off the action tonight, with plenty of eye-catching games including Tottenham v Aston Villa, Bournemouth v Liverpool and Fulham v Manchester United and a full complement of fixtures in the EFL and around Europe, of course. We’ll bring you the latest team news ahead of those games, with a number of managers holding their pre-match press conferences.
Stick with us throughout the day, and feel free to drop us an email with your Friday thoughts. Grab a coffee and enjoy.
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