Gary Lineker names dream England football team for Euro 2024 with Marcus Rashford snubbed
Gary Lineker has named his dream England football team for Euro 2024
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Gary Lineker has named the England XI he wants to see starting at Euro 2024 next summer.
The Three Lions won six of their eight matches in qualifying for the tournament - with draws against Ukraine and North Macedonia the only blots on their record.
England will be out to end their agonising wait for a first major trophy since 1966 when the competition kicks off next summer.
Gareth Southgate's side will be among the favourites to go all the way, having made the final last time out when they lost to Italy in heartbreaking circumstances.
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And Lineker, speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, has now named his dream XI.
The 62-year-old has picked Jordan Pickford in goal, with a back four consisting of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi and Kieran Trippier.
In midfield, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and James Maddison have all got the nod.
And, up top, he's gone with Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden either side of Harry Kane - who has dazzled since his move to Bayern Munich back in the summer.
There is, however, no place for Marcus Rashford in Lineker's side.
The Manchester United star appeared to have turned a corner in his career last season when he plundered 30 goals across all competitions.
Yet he's regressed this term, netting just once.
Rashford also struggled for England during their recent 2-0 victory over Malta at Wembley.
And he'll need to up the ante if he's to turn his form around, especially with the Euros creeping closer.
After explaining his team, Lineker said: "And then within that, you can bring people on, lots of replacements for those."
Alan Shearer has also picked his dream England XI.
He agreed with Lineker over Pickford, Walker, Stones and Trippier - but insisted Harry Maguire should start over Guehi.
He also named both Jack Grealish and Foden in his team, with Saka and Kane also getting the nod.
Reacting to Shearer's team, Lineker added: "Very close.
"Not mine [but] only a couple of differences. That's good and I wouldn't argue with that either."
England boss Southgate, meanwhile, opened up on his side's qualifying campaign after the draw with North Macedonia on Monday.
He provided his assessment by saying: “I think the really big results were in March winning in Italy and the result against Ukraine so it meant coming here tonight was a completely different test.
“Given that we had already qualified and everything we achieved, I thought the mentality of the players tonight was excellent and the quality with the ball was good on a very difficult pitch.
“It was probably just that finish, that final pass which was difficult to find against their defence but I thought lots of positives to take from these performances.
“We’ve now got the next exciting bit with the draw at the beginning of December so we will see exactly what the path looks like.
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And the 53-year-old also hailed Trent Alexander-Arnold and Rico Lewis for the way they performed in that fixture
.“There are lots of players to keep track of, because in this batch of games, Trent [Alexander-Arnold] has again done an excellent job in midfield, has used the ball really well and has done really well," he said.
“He [Lewis] was excellent, his composure with the ball, the fact that he did respond as he did to the setback which was really, really harsh.
"He is a super footballer and he was excellent, I thought. We are really pleased with him."