Being an England fan is always a rollercoaster ride which is often full of crushing lows, but under the stewardship of Gareth Southgate we've been given fresh new hope. When he was appointed as Sam Allardyce's full-time successor back in 2016 the overall reception wasn't the best, with many supporters seeing it as a pretty underwhelming move. But fast forward to 2018 and the completion of the World Cup - he's seen as some of a national hero. He inspired a new generation of England players to the semi-finals of the World Cup, recording their joint best finish (Italia 90) since winning the competition back in 1966.
They return to action for the first time since their heroics in Russia next week and for the first time in a while, the international break is actually being greeted with some excitement! On Thursday (2pm) Gareth Southgate is set to name his first post WC squad and we're expecting to see a few faces - with him big on promoting young players. His time spent coaching the U21's has clearly helped him in the senior team and it really is a truly exciting time for English football if the summer is anything to go by.
With Southgate's squad announcement looming large, we've built a little quiz that should wet your appetite for the Three Lions returning to action. We want to see if you can name EVERY player to feature in Southgate's first England squad from their friendlies against Malta and Slovakia. Please bare in mind that this is his PRE GAME squad, as some players pulled out after picking up injuries so they didn't feature. There's 28 different answers to get and we're expecting some big scores - so give it a below and tweet your scores into us @FootyAccums to see how you compare with the rest of our followers!
