Google News Gareth Southgate commented on the World Cup Squad
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The list of passengers for the World Cup was long awaited. The England team will look interesting, and one of the surprises from the list is James Maddison. "He’s playing really well," Southgate said, as quoted by eurosport.com "He’s a good player.
We’ve always said he’s a good player.
At various stages there have been conversations about James. He is playing as well as any of the attacking players in this country.
I did speak to James because there was a lot of speculation this morning that he wouldn’t be with us.
A couple of weeks ago, we decided that he would be with us. We obviously weren’t going tell him then.
He was delighted and as I said, I had some difficult calls that were emotionally on the other end of the spectrum, so it was nice to give myself a little bit of an enjoyable end to that”.
Walker and Philipps
Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips are on the list, even though they were injured. "Kalvin played last night so I think with him he’s free of injury. We’re aware that he’s not going to be able to play seven 90 minutes," said Southgate.
"That won't be possible. We’re going to have to build his fitness level.
"He’s available, he’s free of injury. We’ve got Declan Rice as a defensive midfielder. Henderson can play there, but we don’t have a lot of cover for that role in the country.
"Kalvin is a super player and we think that’s a risk worth taking with his fitness.
We think he can add to the group.
"Kyle Walker a bit different. He’s not back in full training yet, but he will be available before the end of the group stage.
"Reece James wasn’t going to be available - if everything went perfectly - until the latter stages of the tournament.
Kyle is a long way ahead of that and is progressing well." Callum Wilson is also one of the surprises, he will have a great chance to show what he can do. Southgate did not reveal to him that he would be part of the team.
"I didn't get a chance to speak to Callum," added.
"My priority on these days is the difficult and sad news.
"The nature of those conversations remind you how much it means to a player to go to a World Cup. It's a great day but we've had some disappointment."
