World Cup 2022: Gareth Southgate "not happy" that Yunus Musah turned down playing for England

United States star Yunus Musah could have played for England at World Cup 2022, had things been very different for him choosing his allegiances. 

Musah was eligible to play for England and was even in Arsenal's academy growing up. Born to Ghanaian parents, he grew up mostly in Italy and England before choosing to represent the United States.

“Well, firstly, they have been very proactive on recruitment if you like, talent identification," England boss Gareth Southgate said recently.  

“Obviously they took one of ours, which we weren’t very happy about but, fair play!

“With Yunus, it was a strange situation because he was in our Under-19s and we went into the pandemic and lockdown so it wasn’t possible to travel and see games so he was a player that at that stage I had not had a lot of contact with in the junior teams.

“One or two of the others I knew a little bit better and that decision was made before I had the chance to get to know him well.”

Musah started against England in the Group B second match against England. Both teams started with 21 of the 22 players who began the first fixtures. England lined up with the same 4-3-3 formation, opting for a back four despite reports that Kyle Walker had returned from injury to slot into the defence. Gareth Southgate stated that the same XI deserved “to go again”

The United States, meanwhile, made one change from the side that started against Wales, opting for Antalyaspor striker Haji Wright over Norwich City hitman Joshua Sargeant. The US chose to remain unchanged defensively despite talk surrounding Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman – who conceded the penalty that Gareth Bale converted. Zimmerman is the only player in the line-up who doesn’t play his club football in Europe – with Gregg Berhalter having stated in the past that he prefers stars playing across the Atlantic, as opposed to Major League Soccer.