England’s interim boss, Lee Carsley, has called up Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice for his latest Three Lions squad scheduled to take on Greece and Finland in the Nations League.
England’s clash with Greece in Wembley on October 10th is set to be a banger, as both teams are currently on six points, and a win will put the team in pole position, which edges them closer to a semifinal berth. Saka and Rice have been very influential for England in recent campaigns, and played pretty much every available minute in their Euro 2024 encounter that ended up in heart break.
The Nations League is more or less a glorified competitive friendly as far as I’m concerned, but football players will always have that commitment to want to represent their nations, and unfortunately the potential for injuries, with Arsenal captain, Martin Odegaard, currently spending some time in the sidelines after a nasty ankle injury while representing Norway in a Nations League clash against Austria.
However, the Arsenal captain remains hopeful to be back sooner than expected.
Lee Carsley makes high-profile omissions
While the likes of Saka and Rice were certainly assured of their places in the England Nations League squad, the same can’t be said for Harry Maguire, that was pretty much part of the furniture under former boss, Gareth Southgate. James Maddison was a surprise omission, especially with the form he’s showing in the Premier League this season. Maddison currently has the highest open-play expected assists (2.54) in the competition, and is currently on second place, 2.94, for expected assists.
Other notable omissions were West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen and Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze, that have struggled to impress this season. Ex-Gunner, Aaron Ramsdale, who was a regular squad player under Southgate was axed by Carsley, with Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson taking his slot.
