Wayne Rooney has unveiled his England starting lineup for the World Cup, and a few surprises can be found there.
The 37-year-old former manager of Manchester United is now in charge of MLS team DC United.
Rooney will have some time off to watch the Three Lions in Qatar, though, given the American season has recently come to a conclusion.
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The tournament’s all-time leading scorer for England revealed his starting lineup in an interview with talkSPORT on Friday morning.
Despite the possibility that Gareth Southgate would choose a back three to give England more defensive stability, Rooney has opted to use a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The former Everton striker chose Jordan Pickford to be the goalkeeper, so there were no surprises there.
Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, and John Stones were his next selections for the back line from Manchester United.
However, Rooney surprised a few people by deciding to go with Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back instead of Kieran Trippier or Kyle Walker.
Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips make up his defensive midfield choice, despite the Manchester City player having played just once since mid-September.
But Rooney has not disregarded Jude Bellingham, choosing the Borussia Dortmund player as a No. 10 instead.
Then, with Harry Kane leading the line, he has chosen to start Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka in place of Raheem Sterling as the two wide players.
Just two goals separate Kane from Rooney’s 53 Three Lions record.
On November 21, England plays Iran in the World Cup opener.
On November 25, they will play the USA, and on November 29, they will play Wales in their last group game.