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What happened to the 11 wonderkids Copa90 tipped to become future England stars back in 2015

Home> Football> Football News

Published 07:00 25 Apr 2025 GMT+1

What happened to the 11 wonderkids Copa90 tipped to become future England stars back in 2015

There were a few big names included in the starting XI.

Marcus Chan

Marcus Chan

Back in 2015, Copa90 attempted to predict England's 2022 World Cup starting XI.

Over the years, England have produced some of the world's best players, including the likes of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry.

From recent Three Lions squads, the likes of Bukayo Saka, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jude Bellingham are among the best players in European football.

Back in 2015, Copa90 named their England starting XI for the 2022 World Cup, and there were some surprise picks.

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Starting in goal was Jack Butland, who at the time played for Stoke City. The Bristol-born shot-stopper made two appearances for England in 2015 and went on to make six more, with his last coming in 2018.

In defence, Sam Byram was named at right-back, with John Stones and Reece Oxford the centre-back pairing and Luke Shaw was at left-back.

They might have gotten the goalkeeper wrong, but Copa90 did manage to get two of the back four correct as both Stones and Shaw were part of the England 2022 World Cup squad.

Oxford, who was playing for West Ham in 2015, went on to play for Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Augsburg. The 26-year-old is yet to make his senior England debut.

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Byram suffered a similar fate as he never made an appearance for England and is currently playing for Leeds United.

Sam Byram is now playing for Leeds United. Image: Getty
Sam Byram is now playing for Leeds United. Image: Getty

Moving on to the midfield, Copa90 had a trio of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dan Crowley and Ross Barkley.

All three players missed out on a place in the 2022 World Cup squad, Crowley, who played for Arsenal's youth teams is currently playing for League Two side MK Dons and is yet to make a senior appearance for the Three Lions.

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Meanwhile, Barkley and Loftus-Cheek have a combined total of 43 England caps between them, 33 for Barkley and 10 for Loftus-Cheek.

The pair have not represented England since 2019 and 2018, respectively.

In attack, Copa90 picked a front three of Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and James Wilson.

Copa90's England 2022 World Cup starting XI. Image: Copa90
Copa90's England 2022 World Cup starting XI. Image: Copa90

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Sterling and Kane were both in the squad for the 2022 World Cup, with Kane captaining the side and is currently the country's record goal scorer.

However, former Manchester United player Wilson is now playing for Northampton Town, having made only one appearance for England's U21 side.

In terms of the manager, Copa90 had Gary Neville in charge, which was wrong as it was Gareth Southgate who led the Three Lions to the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by France.

Featured Image Credit: Getty

Topics: England, Football

Marcus Chan
Marcus Chan

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