Supercomputer predicts England's World Cup 2026 squad
Harry Maguire and Jordan Pickford amongst those to be jettisoned from Gareth Southgate's squad in three and a half years' time.
England's World Cup squad in three and a half years, in USA, Mexico and Canada, is set to have a very different look, according to a Supercomputer's prediction.
There can't have been many England fans sat in front of the television watching France and Morocco in the semi-final on Wednesday night not thinking "it could have been us."
Gareth Southgate's side were very unfortunate to be beaten by the French last weekend in the quarter-finals and arguably should have won the game.
They might well have done, if Harry Kane hadn't had a surprising moment when blazing his second penalty of the game over the bar.
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It was another case of glorious failure, which the Three Lions had suffered at Euro 2020 and the 2018 World Cup, when losing in the final and semi-final, respectively.
With France then getting past Morocco, and setting up a Kylian Mbappe vs Lionel Messi final, supporters of Southgate's team would have been further left wondering what might have been.
Looking to the future, fans don't even know if Southgate will be in charge of the Euro 2024 qualification process, with the manager having dropped a hint but not confirmed where he stands.
Others will start predicting who might be playing for the national team in the future, and SPORTbible gave it a go, and the data has also given it a go.
Midnite have crunched the numbers to pick a 26 man squad to go to the tournament in North America:
Goalkeepers:
Aaron Ramsdale
Dean Henderson
James Trafford
Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Ben White
Luke Shaw
Ben Chilwell
Reece James
Trevoh Chalobah
Marc Guehi
Fikayo Tomori
Midfielders:
Kalvin Phillips
Declan Rice
Conor Gallagher
Jude Bellingham
Mason Mount
Harvey Elliott
Emile Smith Rowe
Morgan Gibbs-White
Forwards:
Marcus Rashford
Phil Foden
Jack Grealish
Bukayo Saka
James Maddison
Tammy Abraham
Folarin Balogun
The squad was based on a number of stats, with goalkeepers and defenders chosen based on the amount of goals conceded per 90 minutes.
Midfielders were picked on their goals and assists per 90 and forwards on their goals scored for every 90 minutes, whilst players who will be over 32 come the tournament were left out.
That means that Kane was not selected, most will still expect the Tottenham Hotspur forward to be involved, even if his replacement as captain has already been identified.
Of course, three and a half years is a long time in football and it's highly unlikely that the computer is going to have got this right.
Who do you think will be going to the World Cup in 2026?
Topics: England, Football World Cup
Ryan Sidle