Marcus Rashford remains "under consideration" for an England recall, though Gareth Southgate conceded the lack of game-time for several key players is "not ideal".
In the last national squad before the Qatar 2022 World Cup, there was no place for Manchester United attacker Rashford and club-mate Jadon Sancho.
Rashford is, however, struggling with a muscular problem. The 25-year-old has been in strong for this season, scoring three Premier League goals in six appearances.
A maiden call-up for Brentford attacker Ivan Toney and a recall for Tottenham's Eric Dier were among the more eye-catching inclusions by Southgate, who stressed the door is not shut for those others seeking a return to the fold in time to make the World Cup squad.
"There were certain players we wanted to keep involved this time, but that said, it doesn't mean that this is the end for some of the others who aren't involved," he stated.
"Marcus Rashford, for example, has shown some encouraging signs recently. He is a player we know well so if he can perform at a high level in the next few weeks, he of course will be under consideration."
Several of Southgate's regular squad members made the cut, such as United duo Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, alongside Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips, all of whom have struggled for minutes this season.
Their crucial impact on last year's Euro 2020 campaign, however, has swayed Southgate, though he acknowledged it is not a "perfect situation".
"Clearly, we have a number of players including Ben Chilwell, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips who are not playing a lot of minutes with their club," he added.
"It is not ideal, but we feel they have been, and can be, important players for us. It is not a perfect situation, but there is still a lot of football to be played before Qatar.
Tottenham defender Dier ends a two-year absence from the national set-up, having been a member of the team that travelled to the 2018 World Cup, with Toney a new face altogether.
"With Eric, he has been playing well for a period of time," Southgate added. "We think it is a really close call across our centre-backs, and he has deserved to be picked back in the group.
"We know what a good character he is. He fits in with the culture and has great international experience and leadership qualities.
"With Ivan Toney, we have been tracking him for a long time. I had a good chat with Thomas Frank about him last season.
"His form and his qualities – not only his goalscoring but his technical ability, build-up play and aerial prowess – gives us a different threat to some of the other players we could pick."
England travel to Italy in a Euro 2020 final rematch before returning to Wembley to face Germany in their two Nations League encounters before the World Cup.
Maro Itoje keen to reach ‘another level’ after England secure quarter-final spot
Maro Itoje has emerged from a difficult period of his career confident that he can reach new levels of performance as England progress deeper into the World Cup.
Itoje revealed during this year’s Six Nations that he had been suffering from an underlying health issue – the details of which are undisclosed – that had impacted his conditioning.
It explained the below-par displays being delivered by one of England’s world-class operators as, although he held his own on the field, he was not the dominant force that had taken the game by storm.
But having benefited from the fitness work completed during squad’s World Cup training camp, there was evidence in his starts against Argentina and Japan that the 28-year-old second row is on the rise once more.
“I don’t think one is ever fully happy, no-one is every fully content with anything, but it’s definitely better being able to express myself physically,” Itoje said.
“During that period where it was a little bit more difficult to do that, it was a little bit more challenging.
“I had issues going on in the background which affected my ability to exercise and perform.
“And once we were able to get all those things aligned, I was able to naturally have a response from the training that I was doing.
“Having a beneficial response from the rigorous activity has allowed me to perform and play better.
“There’s no top player across any sport – whether that’s rugby, football, basketball, whatever – who has a plain sailing career, or a career that goes exactly how they wanted it.
“You can speak of any of the greats and they will probably say ‘I wish I didn’t do that’, or ‘I wish I’d done that differently’.
“I guess that whole period for me was my version of that, where I had something structurally wrong and I didn’t know it was structurally wrong until I was quite deep into it.
“To be able to persevere through that period and finally get a fix for that was great. But I personally still feel there’s a lot more to go and a lot more that I can contribute in a positive manner for this team and in this tournament.”
England have reached the quarter-finals as Pool D winners with a match to spare after Japan toppled Samoa on Thursday night.
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It continues encouraging progress through the World Cup that began with victory over Argentina despite all but three minutes of the match being played with 14 men because of Tom Curry’s red card.
Itoje excelled amid England’s act of defiance against their closest group rivals, who were routed 27-10 in Marseille, but the two-time Lions tourist insists there is more to come.
“It’s funny because people after the game thought I’d played well. I thought I played alright, I don’t think I played as well as what people were telling me,” he said.
“And that’s probably because I know where I can be if I’m properly firing on all cylinders.
“The games have been a step in the right direction for me but I’m not satisfied with that, I think there’s another level for me to get to.
“So hopefully Samoa and by God’s grace the rest of the tournament will be an opportunity for me to express that.”
England captain Jos Buttler believes India are favourites for World Cup
Jos Buttler believes the weight of history suggests India are clear-cut favourites to win the World Cup on home soil despite England’s considerable experience of the conditions.
Staging the showpiece in recent years has come with a distinct advantage as the last three editions – India in 2011, Australia in 2015 and England in 2019 – have all been won by the host nation.
England may be double world champions, but even a side that turbocharged the white-ball formats have fallen short in India, losing keenly contested ODI and T20 series both in early 2017 and spring 2021.
While Buttler is bullish about England’s fortunes, he rates an India side that have won 14 of their last 16 ODI series on their own patch as well as the Asia Cup earlier this month as the team to beat.
“The clear favourites are India,” Buttler told the PA news agency. “You only have to look at the past few World Cups – England won in England, Australia won in Australia and India won in India before that.
“History tells you that it’s quite advantageous to be the home nation and they’re obviously a brilliant team. In their own conditions, India are fantastic. I certainly see them as favourites.
“We’re going out there to try to win a World Cup – we don’t see ourselves as defending champions. It’s very much a new tournament and we know it’s going to be tough because there are some top, top teams.
“But we know we’re a really good team, a dangerous team, we’ve got a lot of experience in the group and we back ourselves.”
England have arrived in Guwahati ahead of three warm-ups which will act as final preparation for the tournament opener against New Zealand – a rematch of the 2019 final – in Ahmedabad next Thursday.
Their 15-strong squad contains eight members of the side that went all the way four years ago, while Gus Atkinson is an outlier as the only one who has not featured in the Indian Premier League.
A number of others including Buttler, an IPL regular since 2016, have substantial knowledge of what to expect in India which England’s limited-overs captain hopes they can exploit.
Speaking to promote England’s official kit supplier Castore extending its ‘summer of sport’ campaign to highlight key occasions such as the World Cup, Buttler said: “It gives you a sense of familiarity.
“A lot of the cricket grounds we’ll play at, guys will have played there and know the surroundings. They will understand the pitches and conditions, more so than if they’d not been there before.
“There’s a lot of other teams that have that advantage as well with guys playing a lot of IPL cricket, it’s been around for quite a few years now so everyone’s accustomed to playing in India in that sense.”
Jofra Archer will be England’s only travelling reserve as he completes his rehabilitation from the latest stress fracture in his right elbow that ruled him out of the entire summer schedule.
He will not be ready to make his return until at least the latter stages of the tournament, raising the prospect of him making a dramatic comeback if injury strikes one of England’s quick bowlers.
While England are cautious over rushing back the bowler who was entrusted with the super over that led to them being crowned world champions for the first time, Buttler is delighted to have Archer in tow.
“He’s someone who will go on and have so much impact for England,” Buttler added. “Everyone is hopeful this will be the end of his injuries and we can see him back on the park more consistently.
“He’s such a superstar, you want to see these guys perform, he’s someone who puts bums on seats.”
:: Jos Buttler was speaking to promote Castore, the official kit suppliers of the England cricket team, investing in an extension to its national brand marketing campaign. For more information, visit https://castore.com
Manu Tuilagi warned special treatment may await him when England tackle Samoa
Billy Vunipola insists England will rally around Manu Tuilagi in expectation of the Samoan onslaught he will face when the rivals meet in their Rugby World Cup clash.
Vunipola, the Saracens number eight of Tongan heritage, has first hand experience from Japan 2019 of what it is like to be targeted by Polynesian opposition with a point to prove.
It is a scenario that Tuilagi will encounter in Lille on Saturday week when Samoa are England’s final Pool D assignment before the quarter-finals.
Now 32-years-old, Tuilagi moved to the UK from the Pacific island when he was 13 and even though he remains proud of his origins, Vunipola expects him to have a target on his back at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
“I know for a fact that the Samoan boys, as much as they respect and hold Manu in high regard for what he has done for exposure in his heritage, they will want to go after him,” Vunipola said.
“Everyone knows Manu can look after himself but we will be right next him trying to help as much as we can because they will be ready and waiting.
“It happened to me at the last World Cup against Tonga when I remember getting put on my backside. I looked up and everyone was cheering on the side of the pitch like they won the game.
“I am on the other side of it but if I were to put myself in a Tongan shirt I would think ‘let’s go get this Tongan kid or who thinks he’s a Tongan kid even if he is on the other side’.
“That’s how I would think if I was in the Tonga team but I am not. I still remember the image of them cheering on the bench and it made me laugh. You just have to accept it and move on.”
England face the prospect of colliding with Pacific island opposition on successive weekends given they are likely to face Fiji in the quarter-finals on October 15.
The teams last met at Twickenham in August when the dangerous Fijians prevailed 30-22, securing a historic first victory in the fixture. It was an important moment for Islander rugby, but Vunipola felt only deflation.
“You obviously have that link to what you have in common with them but at the end of the day I am representing England and I want to win,” the back row said.
“As soon as I cross the white line against any Polynesian team, it’s like ‘right, how do we get the result?’
“Watching the Fiji game in August there was no part of me that was thinking ‘oh great win Fiji, I am happy for you’.
“I was gutted for the boys and was disappointed that we lost. It does not matter about history or they are Polynesian, it is just about the result.”
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