England coach Gareth Southgate has dropped captain Wayne Rooney from the squad for their upcoming matches. The striker has been omitted from England’s 26-man squad for the friendly in Germany on Wednesday, followed by the World Cup qualifier against Lithuania four days later. Jermain Defoe, Marcus Rashford, Jamie Vardy were the srikers in the team.

Southgate admitted that Rooney was unhappy with the decision but praised the striker for the “very mature” way he took the news. Southgate made it clear the 31-year-old now faces a challenge to get into the squad, never mind the team.

“We have to look at Wayne as a No 10, which is his predominant role,” Southgate said. “In the last two games we’ve played Dele Alli there and we’ve played Adam Lallana there. Both are playing very well, scoring and assisting for their clubs. Ross Barkley has been playing very well for his club. So there’s competition. I can’t dress it up any other way. There are some very good players and it’s a battle to get in this squad,” Southgate said.

The England coach added that the Manchester United player shouldn’t expect a country call-up when he isn’t playing regularly for his club. “I don’t think he expects, if he is not playing every week for his club, to be picked in this sort of situation.”

Southgate also dropped Arsenal player Theo Walcott for the matches against Germany and Lithuania. The news didn’t go very well with Walcott, who was informed of his ouster on his birthday. The duo were reportedly involved in a heated argument over the phone when the news was being delivered. Southgate accepted that calling Walcott on his 28th birthday to deliver the news wasn’t the right way to go about it.

“I’ve got to say he wasn’t chuffed to bits to get the call,” Southgate said. “And I understand that. Did he argue his case? Yes. Quite rightly, he said: ‘I’m one of the leading goalscorers in the league.’ I don’t mind being challenged on that. I totally respect that. I don’t expect him to be happy but I’ve got to make decisions and I think it was the right thing to call him to talk that through – even if the timing wasn’t great,” the England coach added.

England Squad


Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster, Joe Hart, Tom Heaton
Defenders: Ryan Bertrand, Gary Cahill, Nathaniel Clyne, Phil Jones, Michael Keane, Luke Shaw, Chris Smalling, John Stones, Kyle Walker
Midfielders: Dele Alli, Michail Antonio, Ross Barkley, Eric Dier, Adam Lallana, Jesse Lingard, Jake Livermore, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Nathan Redmond, Raheem Sterling, James Ward-Prowse
Strikers: Jermain Defoe, Marcus Rashford, Jamie Vardy