With Beckham and Gerrard, this is the ideal England XI according to Neville

The England national team is one of the most important in the world. They were World Cup champions in 1966, with unforgettable players like Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and Geoffrey Charles Hurst. However, in the following decades they struggled to repeat that success and have not gone that far in soccer's most important tournament since.

Related news:

This is Arsenal's response to rumors about Arteta leaving for Barcelona

Between the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Three Lions had a fantastic squad full of top players then called the 'Golden Generation' that thrilled fans, although they failed to achieve the results expected of them. In France 1998 they were eliminated by Argentina in the round of 16, in Korea and Japan 2002 they lost to Brazil in the quarterfinals and in Germany 2006 they were again eliminated at that stage against Portugal.

At that time, one of the leaders of the squad was Gary Neville, a Manchester United defender. He is now a TV commentator and in a talk on Stick to Football podcast with Sky Bet he chose his ideal line-up from the players of that time. The first surprise was the tactical system he chose, with a 5-4-2 instead of the typical 4-4-2 they used to use.

The goalkeeper was David James. The three defenders were Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell and John Terry. In midfield David Beckham was included in an unusual position, as right wing-back, while on the other side was Ashley Cole. Then Neville chose three very talented midfielders: Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. And finally the forwards were obvious: Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen.

Related news:

Klopp's departure unleashes chaos at Liverpool: star has doubts about his future

Now they have a great team too

Although many fans will be nostalgic remembering those stars, the current England squad is as good (or even better) than that one. Stars like Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Kyle Walker and John Stones now shine with The Three Lions. Moreover, they have achieved better results: they were semifinalists in the Russia 2018 World Cup and lost in penalty shoot-out the Euro 2021 final against Italy.