Interim England manager Lee Carsley says his squad selections will not be “copy and paste” and players will only be picked on merit during his time in charge of the Three Lions.
Carsley, 50, named his latest 25-man squad for upcoming Nations League matches against Greece and Finland on Thursday, with Tottenham striker Dominic Solanke included for the first time in seven years.
There are four changes from last month’s 26-man England squad, which was Carsley’s first after taking temporary charge following the departure of Gareth Southgate.
“In the back of my mind, I wanted to make sure it feels fresh… feels that when you get that email or WhatsApp [to say] that you’ve been called up, that it’s an achievement because it shouldn’t be something that is taken for granted,” Carsley said.
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“I thought it was important that it is not just a copy and paste. I want them to feel like they have earned their place in the squad.”
Eberechi Eze, Harry Maguire, Tino Livramento and Jarrod Bowen have been left out of Carsley’s latest squad, which achieved victories over the Republic of Ireland and Finland in September.
They have been replaced by Jude Bellingham, Kyle Walker and Solanke, who made his only previous appearance in a friendly against Brazil in 2017.
Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, Tottenham’s James Maddison and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford are among the players to be overlooked.
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“The players I’ve left out, I could make a case for them being in, but ultimately I have to make those decisions,” Carsley said.
“The reality is you want a player to be coming in in top form and fighting for a position in the team.
“Getting out of this Nations League is important for us in terms of setting up the World Cup qualification. Whether I’m here or not, it’s important we are in a favourable pattern and in a position to win the World Cup.”
Carsley said his counterparts were discussing England’s attacking riches at a Uefa conference last month, although some thought it could present an issue for the team’s manager.
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However, Carsley, who for the first time will have a trio of world-class number 10s at his disposal this month in Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer, disagrees.
“When I attended the conference a couple of weeks ago, a lot of the head coaches spoke about how many good players we’ve got, but they almost referred to it as a problem,” he said, “whereas I am thinking it’s a nice problem to have.
“With the period of the season we are in, I can probably justify why we wouldn’t start all three of them at the same time in terms of the amount of games they’re playing, what they are going back to and what they have come from.
“What’s important is that we get them all on the pitch at some point and we try to find the balance. But, like I say, I think it’s a nice problem to have.”
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, only athletics and swimming were assured of their place at Glasgow 2026 as ‘mandatory’ Commonwealth Games sports.
The sports dropped have met the decision with understandable disappointment.
Diving has been part of every Games since 1930 but has missed out in Glasgow, with a lack of an existing purpose-built venue being cited as the primary reason.
Scottish Swimming acknowledged the “difficult decisions” facing organisers but Diving Australia said the sport’s Commonwealth heritage made the decision “even more regrettable”.
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Hockey is another long-standing core sport – having been introduced in 1998 – to lose out.
“It is really disappointing and a reflection of where we are as a sport,” said former Great Britain captain Kate Richardson-Walsh, who helped England win women’s hockey silver at Glasgow 2014.
“It is a moment where we should reflect as a sport, for many different reasons, about how we can improve and stay relevant.”
Squash, badminton and table tennis were all culled, meaning there will be no racquet sports in Glasgow.
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Three-time squash gold medallist Nick Matthew was surprised his sport’s “heritage and tradition of providing a world class competition in the Commonwealths” did not save its place.
“It’s a blow. With the UK countries, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, etc, the depth of competition is incredibly high,” said Matthew.
“Hockey missing out stood out to me as well. I think you would be hard pushed to see more world class sports at Commonwealth level than squash or hockey.”
Scottish badminton player Kirsty Gilmour, who won silver at Glasgow 2014, said she felt “sad” for young players who are missing out on a global event.
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“We had to have conversations in training about realigning focuses and future prospects because for the 19, 20, 21-year-olds that was going to be a big multisport doorstep event,” the 31-year-old Glaswegian told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Three months on from the ceremony in the Cote d’Azur, she feels “great to be back” renewing her ties with her homeland.
“I’ve been looking forward to this camp for a number of weeks,” Weir said. “It was by far the toughest I’ve had to go through in my career. There were so many ups and downs.
“Looking back, I’ve learned a lot. I do feel grateful for a slight change in perspective coming back.”
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Weir tried to remain as “balanced” and “rational” as she could as she worked her way back to fitness.
“Some days, it felt like this is totally fine, I can totally do this,” she explained. “Other days, there were tough times.
“It’s physically really demanding. There were so many elements to this injury. It is quite a complex surgery.
“Unfortunately, it’s really common, but there’s a lot to it. It definitely wasn’t a simple journey to recovery, but parts of it I enjoyed.
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“I kind of enjoyed that challenge. I’ve been lucky that I had never been injured before. I was proud of the way I dealt with it most of the time. These things happen, it’s part of sport.”
Looking toward the tie with Hungary, Weir believes the 2022 World Cup play-off defeat by Republic of Ireland can “drive us on”.
“I believe in this team, I believe in the squad,” she added. “Everything we worked on has led us to this point.
“We really think and believe and hope that it’s going to be this time.”
Sarfaraz Khan struck a majestic 150 while Rishabh Pant made a brisk 99 as India were all out for 462 in their second innings, setting New Zealand a target of 107 on day four of the opening Test in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Just when New Zealand came out to bat late in the final session, rain brought an early end to the day’s play with the visitors playing just four balls in the second innings, with openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway yet to open their accounts.
Sarfaraz’s maiden hundred and Pant’s innings offered hope for India, but their dismissals led to a swift decline for the hosts. Resuming at 438 for six after tea, India lost their final four wickets Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj in quick succession, ending their innings in 99.3 overs.
At tea, India were at 438 for six, holding an 82-run lead. Due to rain, there was a nearly two-hour delay, including a 40-minute lunch break, while India had previously trailed New Zealand by 12 runs in their second innings.
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India were all out for just 46 in their first innings, while New Zealand responded with 402.
Brief scores: India 46 & 462 in 99.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 52, Virat Kohli 70, Sarfaraz Khan 150, Rishabh Pant 99; Ajaz Patel 2/100, William O’Rourke 3/92, Matt Henry 3/102 ) vs New Zealand 402 & 0/0 in 0.4 overs.
WITH his arms outstretched, holding the Europa League aloft, Jose Mourinho took the acclaim of Manchester United’s faithful.
The date was May 24, 2017. The venue was the Friends Arena, Stockholm.
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Mourinho with the Community Shield in 2016Credit: Getty – Contributor
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He won the League Cup the same seasonCredit: AFP or licensors
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Mourinho ended 2017 winning the Europa LeagueCredit: PA
At that moment — more than any other in the turbulent 11 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired — it really did feel like Manchester United were back.
They had faced a young Ajax team who were tipped to showcase the future with their short passing and high pressing against a man some were beginning to write off.
Mourinho out thought his opposite number Peter Bosz who, after the final whistle, would bemoan the tactics United had employed.
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They were simple. If they want to press high and pass short we’ll whack it over them onto the head of Marouane Fellaini and he’ll lay it off to Marcus Rashford and go from there.
It worked a treat, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan getting the goals in a 2-0 win.
Not long after, in a conversation with former chairman Martin Edwards, he said that the club really believed they were on to something special with Mourinho.
He had already bagged the League Cup that season in what is still probably the most exciting final the new Wembley has seen as United beat Southampton 3-2.
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Foreign coaches tend to hold a lot more store by the Community Shield, or Super Cups as they are called abroad, so Mourinho was happy to claim a treble as he got his players to hold up three fingers at the final whistle in Stockholm.
At the start of that season Mourinho was being written off as a United boss after a 1-0 away loss to Feyenoord sandwiched between defeats to Manchester City and Watford.
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Jose Mourinho booked after putting his laptop in front of TV camera to highlight referee’s wrong decision
Yet it had been on the eve of that Feyenoord clash late at night outside a hotel in Rotterdam that Mourinho was returning from dinner with his staff and happened across three of us in the Manchester press pack.
Asked for a chat, he came over and explained, off the record, what he was having to do to unpick the Louis van Gaalfootball to create his own brand.
His football brand that was a step up from the drudgery under Van Gaal although not always popular with the United faithful.
But they liked him, and the fact he won, he gave United standing again, an image, they felt big.
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True that first Premier League season did not go well as they came sixth.
Asked for a chat, he came over and explained, off the record, what he was having to do to unpick the Louis van Gaal football to create his own brand.
But he had worked out late in the campaign the Europa League would provide the easier route back into the Champions League and cleverly rotated his squad accordingly.
The following season he boasted it was one his greatest-ever achievements to lead United to Premier League runners-up spot behind City.
He would deny the neighbours claiming the title on derby day as the Red Devils came back from 2-0 down at the Etihad to win 3-2.
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It was Pogba’s only good game. It is often forgotten that Mourinho also led the Red Devils to an FA Cup final that season going down 1-0 to Chelsea in the final.
So it was all heading in the right direction as the season ended. Then came the summer in LA and we all realised something was not right.
In a building at their training base in UCLA he was asked an innocent question as to whether he thought he had the squad to now go a step further and challenge for the title.
He replied: “I cannot answer that question.” Eyebrows were raised.
Later in the tour he would be seen in the foyer of a stadium snarling down the phone ‘it’s s**t, s**t’. Uh-oh.
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It seems an unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Maguire was part of it but his relationship with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward was fracturing.
Nobody wanted this all to unravel but the unravelling had started.
He refused to engage in the traditional on-tour relaxed interview with the English media that every United boss has done. And saw criticism and injustice which was not there.
The meltdown continued after a 3-0 home loss to Spurs he demanded ‘respect, respect respect’ from the media because he had won three titles.
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By the club’s Champions League exit to Valencia, he was questioning whether United had a ‘football heritage’ in Europe.
Later in the tour he would be seen in the foyer of a stadium snarling down the phone ‘it’s s**t, s**t’. Uh-oh.
Less than a week later, after a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool he was gone.
“How on earth did it get to that point?” I asked Woodward later. He suggested if I had had to work with Mourinho, I would have known.
Five-time Premier League winner Patrice Evra says the future at Manchester United is “not bright”, with his old club having been “in a chaos” for more than a decade.
The Old Trafford side last won the league title in 2013, their last season under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and sit 12th in the table under current boss Erik ten Hag.
Evra left a year after Ferguson and the former France captain believes United are still counting the cost of losing such trophy-winning experience.
“It’s always tough to talk about United right now because back in the day we used to play for the fans, for the badge, for the history,” he told BBC Sport NI.
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A smiling Evra added: “I blame myself, I blame Sir Alex Ferguson”.
“When we left, we left too early and it’s difficult for the players because they don’t have any example,” he added.
“I’m not inside, I don’t know what the problem is. The manager Ten Hag is trying to do his best – it’s not good enough. But it’s not just about this season, it’s since we won the last league in 2013, the club has been like in a chaos.”
“I don’t think there’s any question in anybody’s mind that I will be in the lineup for Game 1,” he said Tuesday during a Zoom news conference.
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By Game 1 on Friday, Freeman will have had a week since running on his sprained right ankle in NL Championship Series Game 5 against the New York Mets.
Of course, the final lineup decision rests with manager Dave Roberts after discussions with the front office.
The All-Star first baseman missed Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS. Freeman was 3 for 18 against the Mets after hitting .286 in the NL Division Series against San Diego.
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Freeman said he can hit and walk comfortably but his ankle flares up when he takes the first step to run. He’s been receiving hours of treatment for the first sprained ankle of his long career.
“I want to get this thing as calmed down as I possibly can, to give my best self and be ready to go by Game 1,” he said.
Freeman hurt his ankle on Sept. 26 against the Padres while trying to avoid a tag at first base by San Diego’s Luis Arráez and missed the Dodgers’ last three regular-season games.
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