Around the world, those nations taking part in the World Cup hosted by Brazil this summer are busy finanlising and announcing their preliminary squads and England is no different.
The day after the final Premier League games, England manager Roy Hodgson today announced his preliminary squad amidst much media hype.
They face friendlies against Peru, Ecuador and Honduras before taking on Italy in the opening group game on Saturday 14th June.
The big news is that Ashley Cole misses out as does Michael Carricck but he does make the stand-by list. Other than those there really are no surprises.
Here is the squad;
Goalkeepers
Joe Hart (Manchester City)
Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion)
Fraser Forster (Celtic)
Defenders
Leighton Baines (Everton)
Gary Cahill (Chelsea)
Phil Jagielka (Everton)
Glen Johnson (Liverpool)
Phil Jones (Man Utd)
Luke Shaw (Southampton)
Chris Smalling (Man Utd)
Midfielders
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) – captain
Ross Barkley (Everton)
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
Adam Lallana (Southampton)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
James Milner (Manchester City)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)
Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)
Forwards
Rickie Lambert (Southampton)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)
Danny Welbeck (Manchester United)
Stand-by list
Michael Carrick (Manchester United)
Andy Carroll (West Ham United)
Tom Cleverley (Manchester United)
Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC)
Jon Flanagan (Liverpool)
John Ruddy (Norwich City)
John Stones (Everton)
