Gareth Southgate finally bowed down to pressure and gave the public what they wanted on Thursday afternoon, handing Leicester City playmaker James Maddison a place in his England squad ahead of the Qatar World Cup.
But Maddison is far from the only eyebrow-raising name to secure himself a winter trip to the Middle East
The most surprising Qatar World Cup picks
Dani Alves – Brazil
Cameroon legend Roger Milla is the only outfield player over the age of 40 to feature at a World Cup. But former Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain flyer Alves will not be far behind in Qatar, having celebrated his 39th birthday in May.
Officially the most decorated player in the history of football; Alves continues to laugh defiantly in the face of Father Time, with five of his staggering 124 international caps coming this year alone. His inclusion in Tite’s squad, then, is not exactly a shock in the traditional sense.
But, having seemingly bowed out of the international stage 18 months ago, few would have imagined that Alves would be heading to Qatar so close to his fourth decade on planet earth.
Jordan Veretout – France
With the benefit of hindsight, Aston Villa’s 2015 summer recruitment drive stands up fairly well to the criticism it received at the time. Adama Traore, Jordan Ayew and Jordan Amavi have gone onto good things post-Bodymoor Heath, while stylish central midfielder Veretout is now pulling the strings at Marseille following spells at Roma and Fiorentina.
Given that he hasn’t played a minute for his country in 2022, however, Veretout was not a name the lips of many pundits before Didier Deschamps’ revealed his Les Bleus squad this week.
The 29-year-old has certainly benefitted from the injury-enforced absences of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante.
Armel Bella-Kotchap – Germany
“One of the biggest disappointments of my career.”
That is how Mats Hummels reacted after learning that he would be denied the chance to emulate his 2014 success in Qatar.
Germany boss Hansi Flick opted instead for ‘younger’ players, while acknowledging Hummels’ ‘excellent’ displays at international level. And one of those fresh-faced up-and-comers is Armel Bella-Kotcap; a commanding 20-year-old who has spent just a few months at Southampton following his £9 million arrival from VFL Bochum.
Bella-Kotchap only has one minute of international football under his belt. His inclusion is all the ore surprising when you consider he suffered a dislocated shoulder a number of weeks ago. One that looked set to rule him out of Flick’s plans.
Niklas Fullkrug – Germany
With Germany lacking a Miroslav Klose-style spearhead, the goalscoring burden could fall on 18-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko in Qatar. But if a call-up for Borussia Dortmund wonderkid could perhaps be expected on the back of an outstanding run of form in yellow-and-black, then a late-blooming 29-year-old targetman in Niklas Fullkrug feels like an inclusion straight out of left-field.
That, however, is not quite the case. Fullkrug has taken the Bundesliga by storm of late for newly-promoted Werder Bremen, scoring 10 times in 13 matches. Then again, Fullkrug has never before played for his country above U20 level and could find himself in the rather unique position of making his international debut on the biggest stage of all.
Germany’s Toto Schillaci anyone?
“Niklas has the momentum on his side,” Flick explains. “As well as the way he offers his services to the team. That’s clear when you see his goals.”
Mario Gotze – Germany
If Fullkrug is completely unproven at world level, then you certainly can’t say the same of Mario Gotze. Scorer of that iconic winning goal over Argentina in Brazil; the now-30-year-old Gotze looked destined to fade into international obscurity, having not represented for his country now for five years.
His shock re-call, however, is more than deserved after an impressive return to German soil with Eintracht Frankfurt.
“I can only say that Mario is totally happy to be there. And we are looking forward to seeing him,” Flick tells BuliNews. “We all know that Mario is a brilliant footballer, who has flashes of brilliance. You can see it in every game. He is fully fit, he can play 90 minutes even three times a week.”
James Maddison – Leicester City
Now, the fact that we have little choice but to include England most in-form attacker in this list probably says more about Gareth Southgate than it does James Maddison. Why the Three Lions boss has waited until now to hand the Leicester City talisman the fresh start he so obviously deserves is anyone’s guess. But better late than never, right?
Maddison heads into his first ever international tournament after producing 10 goals and assists in just 12 Premier League games for Brendan Rodgers’ resurgent Foxes. Now, it’s up to him to justify Southgate’s belated faith.
“He’s a good player, we’ve always said that,” Southgate says of Maddison (Goal). “We think he can give us something different to the other attacking players we’ve got. He’s playing as well as any of the attacking players in this country and he’s a little bit different.”
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