He spent the final round of Premier League games anxiously praying to the football gods that no one get injured, and now England manager Roy Hodgson has finally revealed the players upon whose shoulders the nation's hopes of footballing glory at this summer's European Championships in Frances rests.
Roy has named a 26-man provisional squad, with 3 to drop off before the final squad.
The headlines: Marcus Rashford is in, Phil Jagielka and Luke Shaw are out, Drinkwater and Townsend are in, Michael Carrick and Theo Walcott are out and there's no late call for Jermain Defoe.
Here is the squad in full:
Goalkeepers:
Joe Hart (Manchester City)
Fraser Forster (Southampton)
Tom Heaton (Burnley)
Defenders:
Ryan Bertrand (Southampton)
Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur)
Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool)
Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur)
Gary Cahill (Chelsea)
John Stones (Everton)
Chris Smalling (Manchester United)
Midfielders:
Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur)
James Milner (Liverpool)
Ross Barkley (Everton)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Adam Lallana (Liverpool)
Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur)
Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)
Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City)
Fabian Delph (Manchester City)
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
Andros Townsend (Newcastle)
Forwards:
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)
And here's the list of friendly fixtures group games (England are in Group B) and possible knock-out match dates:
22 May: England v Turkey (5:15pm)
27 May: England v Australia (7:45pm)
2 June: England v Portugal (7:45pm)
-----
11 June: England v Russia (8pm)
16 June: England v Wales (2pm)
20 June: Slovakia v England (8pm)
25 June: Winner Group B v 3rd Group A/C/D (5pm)
25 June: Winner Group D v 3rd Group B/E/F (8pm)
26 June: Winner Group C v 3rd Group A/B/F (5pm)
27 June: Runner-up Group B v Runner-up Group F (5pm)
30 June/1 July/2 July/3 July: Quarter-finals (8pm)
6 July/7 July: Semi-finals (8pm)
10 July: Final (8pm)
The all-important question: how did Panini get on with their predictions?
Hmmm. Better luck next time?
For comparison, this is the squad that Hodgson chose for the 2014 World Cup, where England went out in the first round:
(Image: Rex)
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