The Ultimate J-Team: England's Alphabetical XI

When you run through England's international history alphabetically, some letters prove more fruitful than others. The J's? Remarkably fertile ground, it turns out. So fertile, in fact, that we can cobble together an entire starting eleven without breaking a sweat—or running out of Joneses.

The Goalkeeper Question

Between the sticks, David James gets the nod over Sam Johnstone. The former Portsmouth custodian brings serious credentials: four major tournaments with the Three Lions and a place in the pantheon of England's most-capped goalkeepers, though his seventh-place ranking has since been shuffled down the pecking order by the lengthy international careers of Joe Hart and Jordan Pickford.

James will have company from an old Fratton Park colleague.

The Full-Back Flanks

Glen Johnson slots in at right-back, reunited with James from their Portsmouth days. The pair famously steered the south-coast club to FA Cup glory in 2008 and travelled together to Fabio Capello's 2010 World Cup squad. Both departed international football disappointed—James after Germany's knockout blow, Johnson after his final cap came four years later in a 2-1 defeat to Uruguay as England exited Brazil 2014 at the group stage.

On the left flank sits Rob Jones, the Liverpool alumnus who primarily operated as a right-back but shifted wings at Anfield and Gresty Road during his career. His England debut arrived just four months after departing Crewe Alexandra from the fourth tier, suggesting a bright future ahead. That promise never materialised, however, as back and knee injuries curtailed his international journey—his final cap came at just 23, denying him a proper tussle with Gary Neville for the shirt.

The Centre-Back Partnership

The backline gets a distinctly Roy Hodgson flavour here. Phil Jagielka partners Phil Jones, with three of this defence's four members having trudged through the 2014 World Cup disaster. Between them, the two Phils accumulated 67 caps, though they hardly represent the alphabet sides' strongest defensive pairing. Still, the reserve bench boasts a remarkable collection of Joneses: Bill (grandfather of Rob, two caps under Walter Winterbottom), Herbert from 1920s Blackburn Rovers (six appearances), Billy of Bristol City (one cap in 1901), Victorian-era Alf (among England's first hundred), and Harry (whose Three Lions career bookended with a 4-1 thrashing of France).

Midfield Mayhem

Harry Johnston, the winning captain of perhaps football's most storied FA Cup final, takes the defensive midfield berth. The Blackpool skipper lifted the trophy in that famous 4-3 victory over Bolton in 1953, though his final England appearance that year proved less glorious—a shock 6-3 hammering by Hungary that shattered the nation's unbeaten home record against foreign opposition. At 34, Johnston was cast aside for the World Cup in Switzerland, left watching from the sidelines as the fabulous Hungarian side controversially lost in the final.

Reece James shifts into central midfield out of necessity. With Glen Johnson and Rob Jones already occupying right-back duties, the Chelsea captain can't wear the No. 2 shirt. Thomas Tuchel knows James intimately from their Champions League-winning campaign together in 2021, and the Stamford Bridge star will be hoping to add World Cup glory to his recent Club World Cup triumph in the United States.

Jermaine Jenas completes the midfield trio. Once he was accustomed to lining up alongside a Jones off the field for The One Show—an arrangement that ended badly—but here he joins a battalion of them. Big things were expected when he edged out Wayne Rooney for the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2003, the same year he won his first England cap. Yet despite making the 2006 World Cup squad, he never featured at a major tournament and his international career petered out at 26.

Curtis Jones makes the cut despite missing the cut for this summer's squad, leaving England without a single Liverpool player in a World Cup squad for only the third occasion since 1950. Should reinforcements be needed, Seth Johnson provides one-cap wonder credentials from the turn of the century under caretaker Peter Taylor, while former Wolves winger Matt Jarvis bagged a single appearance against Ghana in 2011.

The Strike Force

Up front, David Jack represents genuine pedigree. One of only four men to break the world transfer record twice—alongside Alf Common, Diego Maradona, and Brazilian Ronaldo—Jack was the first player to command a five-figure fee when he moved to Arsenal from Bolton Wanderers. He scored in the legendary 1923 'White Horse Final' for the Trotters, then helped the Gunners to their first three league titles under Herbert Chapman at Highbury. England's refusal to participate in the 1930 World Cup robbed Jack of the chance to showcase himself among the planet's finest forwards.

Mick Jones, the Leeds United stalwart from Don Revie's golden era in the late sixties and early seventies, joins him in attack. Despite being part of two First Division title-winning squads, Jones never became an England regular—the fierce competition for forward berths at the time limited him to a handful of caps. Bedford Jezzard, the former Fulham man, waits in reserve alongside the Johnsons: Andrew and David.