Paul Scholes has named the starting line-up that he would select for England’s opening 2026 World Cup match against Croatia on June 17.

The Three Lions head into this summer’s tournament as one of the favourites to lift the iconic World Cup trophy in New Jersey on July 19.

Thomas Tuchel raised eyebrows by leaving several high-profile players out of his 26-man squad, including Manchester City’s Phil Foden, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.

England laboured to a 1-0 win over New Zealand in their first World Cup warm-up match on Saturday. Bayern Munich’s prolific centre-forward Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game with a header shortly before half-time.

Tuchel’s men are currently acclimatising to the warm weather conditions in the United States. They face Costa Rica in their final warm-up match on Wednesday night before their Group L opener against Croatia seven days later.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football, Scholes named the starting XI that he believes Tuchel should select for the tournament. Let’s take a closer inspection…

Goalkeeper and Defenders

Jordan Pickford; Nico O’Reilly, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Reece James

Nathan Ray Seebeck va Reuters

Jordan Pickford is nailed on to start in goal. Scholes would then select Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly, 21, at left-back, with Chelsea’s Reece James at right-back.

O’Reilly’s club teammate Marc Guehi gets the nod at centre-back, alongside John Stones, who has now played his final match for Man City and will sign for a new club later this summer.

Midfielders

Declan Rice / Elliot Anderson, Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers

Lee Smith via Reuters

Scholes is currently undecided over which Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson should start in central midfield alongside Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham. However, Scholes explained why he would start Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers in the playmaker role behind Harry Kane.

“The three in midfield’s the big one, for me,” Scholes said. “They were taking this morning that it’s a straight choice between Bellingham and Rogers for that number 10 role. Bellingham’s not a number 10.

Forwards

Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka

Nathan Ray Seebeck via Reuters

And upfront, Scholes would select Marcus Rashford over Barcelona-bound Anthony Gordon on the left flank. Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, meanwhile, gets the nod on the opposite flank.

There’s no doubt that influential captain Harry Kane will start for England throughout the tournament. Tuchel has Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney in reserve, but Kane – a leading contender for the 2026 Ballon d’Or award – is arguably the best centre-forward on the planet right now.

Donald Trump has been slammed for his actions while attending Madison Square Garden for Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Trump watched the San Antonio Spurs cut the New York Knicks‘ series lead down to 2-1 thanks to a Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle masterclass, becoming the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals series game.

In order for the US president to be in attendance, security measures for the fixture were ramped up, with many fans forced to queue for longer than normal, which led to Trump receiving cat calls when he appeared on the big screen.

Donald Trump was not the only well-known face in attendance, as celebrities such as Timothee Chalamet, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Ben Stiller, Larry David, and Eli Manning were all also in attendance.

Donald Trump Receives Backlash For NBA Finals Actions

Nathan Howard via Reuters Imagn Images

Donald Trump received backlash after the game after he was filmed in his box momentarily falling asleep in his suite while watching the game alongside Knicks owner James Dolan and his granddaughter Kai Trump.

Trump’s nap was heavily criticised on X, with one critic saying: “Bringing half your cabinet courtside just to take a historic nap is wild. He didn’t come to watch the Knicks; he just paid thousands for a premium snooze.”

Another one noted: “‘Fallen asleep at the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden’ is not a sentence you expect to read about a sitting president. But here we are.”

Trump did have his defenders, though, as one stated: “Presidents are not obligated to cheer like college kids at every game. A quiet moment in a suite is not a scandal or medical emergency, it is human.”

San Antonio Spurs Cut New York Knicks’ Lead in Half

Trump’s nap came during a great game of basketball as the San Antonio Spurs scored 35 points in the third quarter to kill talk of a Knicks’ “sweep” in the finals. Defeat for the Knicks ended a 13-game winning streak which was two away from the Golden State Warriors’ 2017 record.

Stephon Castle scored a three-pointer with just under two minutes to go to extend the Spurs’ lead to 111-104. The Knicks picked up a flurry of chances with OG Anunoby hitting a late three-pointer to put them within two points, but it was not meant to be for the hosts as Castle would score two free throws in the final 10 seconds.

The best-of-seven series continues on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden before going back to San Antonio on Saturday night.

UFC CEO Dana White has revealed the fight he really wanted to main event UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.

The event will take place outdoors on the South Lawn of the Washington DC property and it has been put together to celebrate both the 250th anniversary of the USA, as well as the 80th birthday of President Donald Trump.

The seven-fight card will feature two title bouts, with some major names in action.

UFC Freedom 250 Card Explored

In the evening’s main event, Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje will clash for the undisputed UFC Lightweight Championship, while the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship is on the line in the co-main event.

Topuria vs Gaethje is one of the biggest fights in the UFC today, while the interim heavyweight title bout will see Brazilian Alex Pereira looking to make history.

‘Poatan’ has already held UFC gold at middleweight and light heavyweight. If he can successfully defeat Ciryl Gane in their interim title tilt, though, he will become the only fighter in company history to win championship belts in three separate weight classes.

However, for as significant as the two top fights on the card are, Dana had originally planned a different main event for the show.

Dana White’s Original Plan For UFC Freedom 250 Main Event

Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the White House extravaganza, the veteran matchmaker admitted that his initial plan was for full UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall to defend his gold against Pereira.

The Brit hasn’t fought since being poked in the eye by Gane during their title fight at UFC 321 last October, with doctors still yet to clear him to return.

White revealed:

“100%. That would have been the fight if he (Aspinall) was healthy.

“Right now, a lot of our champions are hurt right now. So it’s kind of funky, there’s a lot of things you have to deal with when you’re making these matches, with timing and everything else going in everyone’s life, injuries. But yeah, it would have been Tom!”

Aspinall vs Pereira isn’t the only fight that the UFC were unable to book for the White House card, with Dana previously admitting that another planned title fight had “slipped away” from the company for the card.

Despite the event not being quite as stacked as the boss may have first envisioned, it is still sure to be one of the most significant nights in the 33-year history of the UFC.