England's World Cup Squad Numbers Suggest Starting XI Snub for Gordon and Rogers
England's World Cup squad numbers have landed, and they're telling quite the story about who'll be getting the nod when the tournament kicks off.
The 26-man contingent's shirt allocation paints a fairly clear picture of the starting eleven, and it's bad news for both Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers. The pair find themselves with shirts 18 and 17 respectively—hardly the numbers you're hoping to see if you're banking on a spot in the opening lineup.
The most glaring assignments are perhaps Djed Spence and Jarrell Quansah at 25 and 26, which rather suggests they're squad depth in the truest sense. Reece James has claimed the 24 shirt, though that's something of a smokescreen given his expected role at right-back—assuming his fitness cooperates, naturally.
The real intrigue lies in those first eleven shirts. They slot together rather neatly as a coherent XI, which is no accident. Interestingly, when England took the field for Euro 2024's opening match, ten of the players wearing 1-11 started that game, with only Kieran Trippier breaking ranks ahead of Luke Shaw.
Of that 2024 vintage, seven have retained their numbers. Kyle Walker, Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold (who bizarrely occupies the No. 8), and Phil Foden have all shuffled down the pecking order in terms of their shirt assignments.
Bellingham's allocation of the No. 10 ought to put paid to any lingering nonsense about whether he'll feature in the starting XI. The midfielder gets the shirt and, with it, the implicit backing that's expected.
The battle between Marcus Rashford and Gordon for the left-wing spot looks set to be one of the tournament's more compelling internal contests. Rashford has drawn first blood with the No. 11, while Gordon—fresh off his £69m move to Barcelona from Newcastle, already the summer's biggest transfer—must settle for a watching brief for now.
The squad's preparations are well underway, with most of the 21 players already heading to West Palm Beach for the pre-tournament acclimatisation camp in Miami. They were due to depart Monday evening for a ten-day spell in the heat.
Arsenal's quartet of Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze have been granted extra recovery time following Saturday's Champions League final defeat to Paris St Germain in Budapest and will arrive later. Crystal Palace's Dean Henderson, who was instrumental in the club's Conference League triumph last week, is similarly expected to miss the friendly against New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday when he joins up later.
Full England squad numbers:
- Jordan Pickford
- Ezri Konsa
- Nico O'Reilly
- Declan Rice
- John Stones
- Marc Guehi
- Bukayo Saka
- Elliot Anderson
- Harry Kane
- Jude Bellingham
- Marcus Rashford
- Tino Livramento
- Dean Henderson
- Jordan Henderson
- Dan Burn
- Kobbie Mainoo
- Morgan Rogers
- Anthony Gordon
- Ollie Watkins
- Noni Madueke
- Eberechi Eze
- Ivan Toney
- James Trafford
- Reece James
- Djed Spence
- Jarrell Quansah
