Phil Foden Missing World Cup Squad Gives Scott Carson Backing
phil foden missed England's World Cup squad, and Scott Carson said the 26-year-old can use the setback as downtime before a fresh new season. Carson, a former Manchester City goalkeeper, said the break could give Foden a chance to rest, clear his head and come back sharper after a prolonged spell at the top level.
Scott Carson on Phil Foden
“It’s probably been a hard hit for him to miss out on the World Cup, but hopefully, he has a bit of downtime, has a rest, clears his head and goes back into a fresh new season,” Carson said in a new conversation with BetVictor. He also described Foden as a player with “that little bit extra where he’s able to win you the game out of nothing.”
Carson pointed to the way Foden has been used at Manchester City as part of the reason the omission carries weight. “Because he’s such a good player, he’s played literally everywhere for Man City across that front five and he’s probably not cemented one position as his main position. That has probably gone against him but also to have a player that can do that is a massive miss as well,” he said.
Manchester City Front Five
Foden’s absence also means an unusual break in his schedule. The omission gives him his first prolonged competitive pause since breaking into the Manchester City first team, after half a decade spent at the edge of elite domestic and European football.
That timing sits alongside a Manchester City side that won a Carabao Cup and FA Cup double under Pep Guardiola last season. For Foden, the coming months now look less like a tournament run and more like a reset before he returns to club duty with no England games on the summer slate.
Nico O’Reilly for England
Carson’s comments also shifted to Nico O’Reilly, the 21-year-old who rose from Manchester City's Elite Development Squad to become a regular fixture on the club’s left flank. Thomas Tuchel may use him as England’s starting left-back during the tournament in North America.
“He was in and around the squad for two years or so. It was halfway through the season before last, he played a couple of Carabao Cup games and FA Cup, and the one game I remember was against Bournemouth, he was playing down the left and he was just up and down, I think he scored a goal and from then he just seems to have kicked on,” Carson said. He added that O’Reilly is “more than ready for the World Cup” and described him as “an athletic lad who can score goals too, especially with the positions he takes up so we’ll need that, especially in the heat.”
England will face Croatia, Panama, and Ghana in the group stage in North America, and O’Reilly’s rise gives Tuchel another Manchester City link in a squad that now carries both an absence and a breakthrough.
