Southgate will be hailed as a genius or a useless twat, most probably the latter.
You can't imagine a team picked from that squad beating even a top club team like Man C. Pity they can't have warm-up games against such teams instead of the likes of Nigeria, they might learn something.
However.... having a young team without the likes of Hart will definitely improve team spirit, especially being away for a month in Russia. A team without egos and playing as a team might do ok.
Teams like France with star player like Griezmann, Pogba, Mbappe and Payet lost against Sweden earlier this year in a WC qualifier.How many Sweden players can you name? also Portugal won the Euros with a pretty workmanlike team without Ronaldo in the final.
The trouble is most teams are like this. So it becomes a matter of luck most of the time in cup competitions, with the better teams often going out on penalties or a silly mistake or decision. It will be interesting to see what effect VAR will have. Certainly at most corners could result in a penalty if minutely examined.
A team without superstars and with discipline, like Germany always have, would be favourites in my opinion.
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