Ngumoha misses cut as England name 23 for Spain showdown

Liverpool teenager Rio Ngumoha has been left out of England’s 23-man matchday squad for tonight’s Nations League opener against Spain at Wembley.

Main image: DSN graphic. Photo: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

One too many

The 18-year-old is the victim of numbers rather than form. UEFA rules cap Nations League matchday squads at 23, and Thomas Tuchel had 24 fit players after all of his group trained. Someone had to drop out, and the least experienced attacker in the camp was the one to miss the cut.

The squad had already been reshaped by five injury withdrawals, including Cole Palmer and Marcus Rashford. James Garner and Morgan Gibbs-White were called up as cover, which pushed the group over the limit.

Tuchel is expected to rotate heavily over a busy international window, and Ngumoha is expected to get his chance in the games to come.

A rapid rise

This month brought Ngumoha his first call-up to a full senior squad, but he is already capped. He travelled to England’s pre-World Cup camp in Florida in the summer as one of five extra players, then made a surprise debut off the bench in a 1-0 friendly win over New Zealand. That made him the fifth-youngest player ever to represent the Three Lions.

At Anfield he became Liverpool’s youngest-ever starter at 16, in an FA Cup tie against Accrington Stanley in 2024-25, and later scored a spectacular late winner on his Premier League debut in a 3-2 win at Newcastle. Minutes have been harder to come by this season: three league appearances under Andoni Iraola, only one of them a start.

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Palmer frustration hangs over camp

Palmer’s absence is still the bigger talking point. Tuchel said on Friday that the Chelsea forward “misses too many opportunities” to impress because of repeated injury withdrawals. Chelsea told England he has been playing through pain. With Palmer out, Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze are the options in the attacking midfield roles.

Spain, the reigning world and European champions, are the toughest possible start to the campaign. France are already dealing with their own problems after Kylian Mbappé left their camp injured, while Liverpool’s summer of change continued this week with Julian Ward’s return as sporting director.

Match	England v Spain, Nations League
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Kick-off	7.45pm BST, Saturday 26 September
Out injured	Five withdrawals, incl. Palmer and Rashford
Call-ups	James Garner, Morgan Gibbs-White
Left out of 23	Rio Ngumoha