England stars finally link up as Southgate prepares side for World Cup party

The England squad have assembled at St George's Park for their final preparations before jetting off to Qatar for the World Cup.

Three Lions' boss Gareth Southgate named his 26-man squad for the upcoming tournament last week with a few of the seasoned professionals having been joined by a few new faces. Leicester star James Maddison and Newcastle striker Callum Wilson are among the names set to be tasting their first major tournament in the Middle East and will hope to end England's 56-year wait for a men's major trophy.

Despite having named his squad last week, members of the squad still had one final round of Premier League fixtures to contend with and Southgate will no doubt have been hoping that his side avoided any major worries.

Maddison garnered plenty of concern having been withdrawn in Leicester's 2-0 victory over West Ham at the London Stadium but fears were very quickly allayed by Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers and the playmaker himself.

Manchester United's late victory over Fulham on Sunday was the final match before the enforced break and the final whistle at Craven Cottage signalled the squad's chance to make their journeys to the Three Lions' St George's Park training base. They have been doing that in their droves throughout Monday with a number of commitments - mostly commercial - to be fulfilled.

Of the players to have arrived, Manchester City 's Phil Foden, Jack Grealish. Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker all arrived with suitcases in-hand. In the meantime, the likes of Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, Jude Bellingham and Jude Bellingham have also made the journey over to the Midlands.

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The vast majority of the arriving stars were decked out in official England apparel, members of previous squads in particular having already received their uniforms. Some though - notably Maddison - had to arrive in their normal clothing having only previously having earned a solitary cap for England.

Speaking ahead of their journey over to Qatar, Southgate has already revealed his plan for the next few days in that work on the training pitch will be extremely limited.

Speaking at his squad announcement, the Three Lions' boss said: "With the players we want to talk to them about the excitement of going to a World Cup. We understand the need to comment on the off-field things that surround this tournament, but we want the players to feel that enthusiasm that they've had since kids.

"We want to fuel that. The first couple of days we won't be on the training pitch, bar a couple [of players] that will need to do something. We want them to transition from a hectic club schedule to thinking about England. We want to talk to them about the fact that this, whatever happens over the next four weeks, has been the second-best period for English football. We can make it the best.

"It's the challenge mindset. How can we take the supporters on another journey, like the one they loved four years ago and loved last summer? That's why we do it and that's what makes playing for England special."

Following their meet-up at St George's Park, England are set to fly over to Qatar on Tuesday, meaning they will have less than a week to accilimatise to the testing conditions that will welcome them when they step foot onto the pitch.

They open their Group B campaign against Iran on Monday, November 21 at 1pm GMT.

Their next assignment comes against the USA the following Friday (7pm GMT) before they round off their group fixtures against fellow home nation Wales on Tuesday, November 29 (7pm GMT).

Southgate's men will hope to have done more than enough by that point to have booked their place in the next round of the competition.

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