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7 months ago
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Anthony Gordon finally got his chance with England.
Called up into the senior squad for the first time, the Newcastle United winger impressing when starting against Brazil. Then following that up with a lively cameo when introduced in the 80th minute against Belgium.
It was no more than Anthony Gordon deserved.
Last summer he was named player of the tournament after leading England to under 21s Euros glory.
Then following that up with a stellar season with Newcastle United on a personal basis, having scored ten goals in all competitions and in the Premier League has been averaging better than once every two games when it comes to direct goal involvements, having already scored nine and got five assists.
The reality was though, at least in my opinion, that Anthony Gordon needed to make this March squad with England, to have any chance of getting on that plane to Germany in June. It would have been so cruel if he had missed this first England senior opportunity but it nearly did, when forced off with injury against Chelsea, less than 72 hours before Gareth Southgate named his squad.
Anyway, now there is more positive news for Anthony Gordon (and other Newcastle United hopefuls), with now an update (see below) from UEFA, that they are going to now consider the requests from the various managers of the national squads, to keep the allowed squad size for these Euros at 26 players, as has been the case with the last two tournaments for England (and their rivals). The UEFA plan had been to reduce it to 23 players for these 2024 Euros but the likes of Gareth Southgate and (Holland’s) Ronald Koeman have been very vocal in saying it makes no sense to make this reduction.
Obviously having 26 spaces instead of 23 would significantly increase the chances of players on the outer edges of their national squads. Personally, I think Anthony Gordon must surely have done enough for club and country this season, to go to Germany, regardless of whether it is a 23 or 26 man squad.
However, a 26 man squad would surely guarantee that for sure with Gordon. Kieran Trippier will also be on the plane regardless, whilst if Nick Pope proves his fitness, then it would be daft if Gareth doesn’t take him. Could others such as Callum Wilson and Tino Livramento make late challenges? Who knows. However, a few extra spaces in the squad won’t do any harm.
I think in this day and age where for say Premier League games, we see squads of 20 every match, same for Champions League etc, I don’t see why UEFA would resist 26 man squads for the Euros if that is what the managers want.
England play Serbia in their first group match on Sunday 16 June and if going all the way, they would be in the final exactly four weeks later on Sunday 14 July, which would mean seven games in four weeks. With all the extra matches and demands that are being put on players these days, with both club and international football wanting them to play more and more games, I think common sense should prevail and let Gareth Southgate and the rest have 26 man squads this summer.
BBC Sport report – 28 March 2024:
‘England manager Gareth Southgate says he will name an expanded initial Euro 2024 squad as Uefa says it will consider requests to reinstate 26-man squads.
Southgate will name a provisional squad on 21 May, two days after the end of the Premier League season.
Unlike the previous two tournaments that had a 26-man limit, Southgate must then reduce his squad to 23 on 7 June.
“There are so many questions on injuries,” said Southgate.
“It’s inevitable we’re going to be naming a longer squad, which is what we did before the Euros here even though we were dealing with 26 then.
“It seems to be [settled at 23]. There is one more Uefa meeting where there’s been a little bit of talk amongst some of the coaches about possibly increasing that.”
Squad limits were increased from 23 to 26 for the European Championships in 2021 and the World Cup in 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic and the risk of multiple cases of infection within a squad forcing players to isolate.
Ronald Koeman, the Netherlands manager, described Uefa’s decision to reduce squad sizes for this summer’s tournament as “absurd” this week.
Uefa said it had “taken note” of comments expressed by some national team coaches on the squad size and would listen to the views of coaches at a workshop on 8 April.
Southgate was without key personnel such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Luke Shaw for friendlies against Brazil and Belgium this week, while Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Harry Kane all departed the camp early with injury concerns.
The FA Cup, Europa League and Champions League finals are all to be played after Southgate names his provisional squad on 21 May, with many of his players likely to be involved and England then have two more friendlies in June.
‘It’s going to be complicated because [of] the injury situations that we have,” said Southgate. “Some will be back playing at the weekend, some will be back playing in a couple of weeks, some will be really close to the end of the season.”

 
