Gareth Southgate says he is "excited" by the players he has picked after confirming his 26-man squad for Euro 2024.
It was announced earlier on Thursday that James Maddison, Curtis Jones and Harry Maguire had already been cut from the 33-man preliminary party.
It was later revealed that Jack Grealish, James Trafford, Jarell Quansah and Jarrad Branthwaite would also miss out on the tournament.
Despite leaving some big names out, and losing some tournament experience along with them, Southgate says he is particularly looking forward to seeing the attacking threat his team possess.
"I'm excited," he said in a press conference on Thursday. "The other night [against Bosnia-Herzegovina], we had a lot of experienced attacking players not on the starting grid. And we had a lot of goals in the team still.
"We saw some fantastic performances the other night which underlined some of that and in the attacking area of the pitch we're blessed with a lot of options and they're all slightly different.
"In terms of where we are, we're excited about what we have. There's always the unknown of that in a tournament, but there's a lot of experience of tournaments in the group, and of big matches with their clubs as well.
"It's impossible to say if it's the squad you wanted. It's the squad we've picked that we feel is best equipped in this moment in time.
"Sometimes you have to regenerate the group more than you're expecting, but that has already brought a hunger and a competitiveness."
Maddison and Grealish were two of the big-name omissions, while Maguire confirmed in a statement that he would be missing out due to a calf problem that has kept him out since April.
Asked about the decision not to include them in the tournament, Southgate admitted it was tough, but he had to base it on recent form.
"They've all been amazing with how they've dealt with it, but I know it's a difficult day for them and their team-mates," Southgate said.
"The fact is we've got some players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league, and we just feel other players have had stronger seasons - particularly in the past six months or so.
"Madders [Maddison] and Jack [Grealish] would have provided us with something different as well, and they've been tough calls. They're calls we've gone over and over and over as a group of staff to try to be fair and to try to use the right rationale.
"The decision on Harry [Maguire] is totally about his physical condition and his recovery from the injury. There is no other reason, as he is one of our strongest centre-backs."
Along with Maguire, Southgate left out two other centre-backs in Quansah, who will remain on standby with the squad for the Iceland game on Friday, and Branthwaite, while the injured Luke Shaw remains as the only recognised left-back.
"It's a bit early for Jarrad [Branthwaite]. He has had a fabulous season; it was good to get him on the pitch the other night," Southgate added.
"But of course, in an ideal world, you'd like that balance of left-footers. For him to be in ahead of the others, I don't think it would have been the right call at this stage.
"At left-back, that's why we've taken what I think is a calculated risk with Luke Shaw, one which I think is worth taking."
England will play Iceland in their final friendly before beginning their Euro 2024 campaign against Serbia in Group C on June 16, before coming up against Denmark and Slovenia.
Final England squad: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Karry Kane (Bayern Munich), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
Rashid lauds Buttler and Jordan heroics after England thrash USA
Adil Rashid lauded the match-winning abilities of Chris Jordan and Jos Buttler after England secured their T20 World Cup semi-final spot on Sunday.
England smashed the United States with a 10-wicket victory as Buttler powered an eye-catching 83, smashing six fours and seven sixes from just 38 balls.
Matthew Mott's white-ball side reached their 116-run target with a huge 62 deliveries to spare, sealing their place in the last four with ease after only just sneaking into the Super 8s phase.
Yet the convincing victory would not have been possible without Jordan, who managed four wickets from five balls – including a hat-trick – to end the USA's innings inside 19 overs.
Rashid, who also took 2-13 from his four-over spell, lavished praise on the England bowler, as well as captain Buttler.
"CJ's a match-winner," Rashid said in his post-match interview. "He's been doing it for a number of years, especially at the back end.
"Jos is a world-class player and has been for many a year, and hopefully we can carry it on now in the semi-finals."
Rashid was keen to share the credit among the entire England line-up, too.
"All the bowlers bowled extremely well and to restrict them to 115 was very pleasing," the leg-spinner added. "Always nice to keep it tight and get an early wicket which brings the new batter in.
"With the wind, you have to assess which end you're going to bowl. The googly's been coming out nicely, too."
Buttler seemed intent on a one-man demolition in England's chase, crunching the United States all over the pitch, including hammering 30 runs off Harmeet Singh's ninth over.
"I thought if we could bring our intensity we'd be too good," Buttler said. "I'm still one of the 11, I've got to do my job."
"We've got great options. We wanted to bring Chris Jordan back, adding a bit of depth with his batting capabilities as well. A World Cup hat-trick is a great effort."
The USA saw their World Cup run come to an end, but their victory over Pakistan will live long in the memory.
Aaron Jones, the star of the USA for much of the tournament, hopes to have put cricket on the American map.
"This is our first World Cup," he said. "I don't think people would have thought we'd be playing here against the big boys.
"Hopefully this will open the eyes of the American public. We've got a lot of calls and messages of support during this World Cup."
Buttler stars after Jordan hat-trick as England book World Cup semi-final spot
England booked their place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals after sauntering to a 10-wicket thrashing of the United States on Sunday.
Chris Jordan excelled at the end of the USA's innings, taking a hat-trick to finish with remarkable figures of 4-10, while Jos Buttler plundered 83 off 38 balls to see England over the line with 62 deliveries to spare.
Reece Topley, who failed to take a single wicket in the defeat to South Africa, set the tone early on as he snared Andries Gous for eight in the first over.
Though Nitish Kumar (30) and Corey Anderson (29) looked to be finding a rhythm for the tournament co-hosts, it did not last long, with Jordan entering the fray to get four wickets in five balls and bowl the USA out for just 115 in 18.5 overs.
England’s openers got all the work done themselves as Phil Salt scored 25, while Buttler did all the heavy lifting in his knock, smashing six fours and seven sixes, one of which hit the stadium roof.
Matthew Mott's side are the first team through to the last four thanks to their significant net run-rate advantage over West Indies and South Africa, who meet later on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Firing on all cylinders
Jordan became the eighth player to take a hat-trick of wickets at the T20 World Cup, but he also broke a record out in the field; he now has the most catches by a fielder (47) in T20Is for England, overtaking Eoin Morgan's 46.
Buttler got his first half-century of the tournament in this match, and scored 32 of his 83 runs in a single over, scoring five sixes in the ninth before getting another at the start of the 10th to seal the win for England.
Sabitzer focused on last-16 qualification after Champions League heartache
Marcel Sabitzer insisted he will put his Champions League final defeat in the past as he prepares to help Austria reach the last-16 of Euro 2024.
The Borussia Dortmund midfielder played the full duration of their 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid at Wembley earlier this month.
Los Blancos secured their 15th success in the competition thanks to goals late in the game from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior.
But Sabitzer played a starring role as Austria roared back from their defeat to France in their opening game of the competition, beating Poland 3-1 to bring it down to the final matchday.
Austria face the Netherlands in Berlin next Tuesday to conclude their Group D campaign, and know a win could see them finish top or second.
A draw or defeat could also leave Ralf Rangnick's side with a good chance of progressing as one of the four best third-placed teams.
"The possibilities then really open up," Sabitzer said.
"I know that from the Champions League, especially this season. Once you're on a run in the knockout phase anything can happen.
"The most important thing is to get through the group stage and into the round of 16 and then we'll see what happens next."
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