World Cup: What Might England's 2022 Line-up Look Like?
Right Wing - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Age in 2022: 29 Currently: Arsenal, 13 England caps, 3 goals Currently suffering from a three month injury lay-off, Oxlade-Chamberlain's thunder has kind of been stolen by the excellent form of Tottenham's Andros Townsend who has broken into the England team and delivered two excellent performances in the recent World Cup qualifiers. Anyone who needs evidence of The Ox's international class, though, need just look at his performance at the Maracana. As England visited the iconic Brazilian stadium for its reopening in anticipation of the upcoming World Cup Oxlade-Chamberlain came off the bench to change the course of the game and score with a well taken half volley. Prior to his injury, Oxlade-Chamberlain was pushing more and more for a regular place in the Arsenal first team, but his layoff could not have come at a worse time with the high flying club not exactly lacking for in form attacking midfield options at the moment. Nevertheless, Oxlade-Chamberlain is still just 20 so has plenty of time to establish himself with both Arsenal and England. A winger who can play on either side and loves to run at players, he is exactly the kind of player defenders hate to play against and will likely be a good option for England for years to come. Other possible contenders: Raheem Sterling (age 27 in 2022), Nathan Redmond (28 in 2022), Andros Townsend (31 in 2022), Theo Walcott (33 in 2022) The current contenders for England's right wing slot, Townsend and Walcott, are both young so will probably still be playing come 2022. However, the strength of both players' games comes from an explosive turn of pace and that both will probably have lost a yard or two of by the time they hit their 30s. The youngest current contender, Sterling, proved very impressive last season as he picked up a number of appearances for Liverpool's first team at the age of just 17, culminating in his England debut a year ago. That game against Sweden was a friendly, so the tricksy Jamaican born winger is still qualified to play for the country of his birth if he chooses.
Left Wing - Wilfried Zaha
Age in 2022: 29 Currently: Manchester United, 2 England caps Zaha's debut for England was replacing Sterling in that friendly against Sweden last November. Like Sterling, Zaha was not born in England, in his case Abidjan in Ivory Coast. So, like Sterling, he may still decide to play for his birthplace rather than the country where he grew up. Unlike Jamaica, Ivory Coast may offer a player a viable alternative option to a player looking to compete in major international tournaments so England would do well to tie Zaha down by playing him in a competitive game. After agreeing a £10 million move to Man United last year, Zaha was hotly tipped for great things. As the star player in the Crystal Palace team that surprised many by winning promotion to the Premier League last season, Zaha proved himself a fast and creative threat down the left wing and a regular goalscorer, netting 11 times for Palace last year. Unfortunately for Zaha his time at United has been a little more trying. Yet to make his league debut, Zaha has only played twice this season and has mostly had to kick his heels on the sideline while Januzaj has emerged as the young talent to watch on the Red Devils' wing. There is a suggestion that Zaha has let his big money move go to his head a bit and he may need to go back out on loan both to give him more playing opportunities and to ground him a bit. There is no doubt, though, that he is a forward player of prodigious talent. Other possible contenders: Danny Welbeck (age 31 in 2022), Tom Ince (30 in 2022) Welbeck is another player currently keeping Zaha out of both the Man United and England teams. Having already racked up an impressive 20 caps and 8 goals, Welbeck is already a frontrunner for this position. However some have questioned whether he is quite a world class talent and have pointed to how four of those international goals have come against San Marino and Moldova. Ince, son of former England captain Paul, has done a great job for his dad's Blackpool team over the last couple of years, scoring 18 goals in 44 games from the left wing last year, a better scoring tally than Zaha's. Strongly linked with an £8 million move to Cardiff in the summer, Ince surprised many by staying at Blackpool, but, unlike Zaha, he is playing and continuing to impress regularly. He has already scored 6 times this season to push the Seasiders into 4th place.
