Official 26-man England World Cup squad - Hall heartbreak and Newcastle trio included
The leaks were true. Newcastle United full-back Lewis Hall will not be going to this summer's World Cup.
Thomas Tuchel announced his 26-man squad for the summer's World Cup in North America, and the German has made some huge calls with his selection.
As completely biased Newcastle fans, we are naturally baffled by Lewis Hall's omission. We understand he's not been in top form for the last few games, but overall this season, he has been incredible. Form is temporary and all that.
Obviously, Hall is still young and will get plenty more chances to represent his country at a major tournament, but this just feels like a slap in the face.
As expected, Harvey Barnes, Nick Pope and Aaron Ramsdale all missed out, too, but they all felt like outside bets anyway.
Dan Burn, Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon have been selected
Big Dan Burn has been given the nod ahead of Harry Maguire, which has got the Sky Sports journalists and pundits going nuts. How dare he not take a player from Manchester United? We're absolutely buzzing for Burn; it's such an amazing story for him to go to his first major international tournament at 34.
Tino Livramento will be on the plane too, which obviously we have no problem with as Newcastle fans, but as England fans, we have to again question how he gets selected, and Hall doesn't. They play on opposite flanks, we get that, obviously, but Hall has arguably been better than Livramento this season, and Tino is a massive injury risk - he's injured right now!
Sky Sports is having a meltdown about the exclusion of Trent Alexander-Arnold, given his form for Real Madrid, and we think that by leaving TAA out, he's putting a lot of faith in Tino Livramento. He's also taking Djed Spence. That's Djed Spence, the Tottenham defender. That's Tottenham, who have been battling relegation all season. Oh, and Spence also currently has a broken jaw.
Anthony Gordon completes the Toon trio. As for whether he'll actually be a Newcastle United player when the World Cup finishes, it remains to be seen. We highly doubt it.
It's down to England to prove us wrong
We honestly can't get our heads around some of Tuchel's decisions for this squad. There's an argument that he's picking players based on recent form rather than reputation, and that's why the likes of Cole Palmer and Phil Foden are missing. However, there has to be a mix of form and familiarity, surely.
Ivan Toney has been selected, but he's played just seven minutes of international football since Tuchel took over. How much can he really know about him, and how well will he integrate with the squad he's barely played with?
It's going to take a while to digest, but the enthusiasm was already low for the World Cup anyway, and it's practically non-existent now. England will sail out of the group stage, no doubt, but this doesn't look like a squad that can win it to us.
Prove us wrong, England!
