Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold Called Up By England

Nearing the end of a long and tiring season that saw an aging Liverpool side exhausted by the relentless pace of five years spent trying to keep up with a sportswashing front for a human rights abusing petrostate, it might be reasonable to hope for an extended summer break for the players.

FIFA and UEFA have other concerns than player welfare, though. Concerns like packing every free week with another competition, another international break, and another set of games. And so we come to the end of the 2022-23 club season and are talking about yet another international break.

Right in the middle of what should be a rare full offseason without a World Cup, Euros, or Copa America, there’s a mid-June international break. And for England, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson have been called up to face Malta on June 16 and North Macedonia on June 19.

Henderson will turn 33 this summer, his birthday set right between England’s two upcoming matches. For Liverpool’s aging captain, it’s hard to see the value in having to play a pair of international games in June against Malta (ranked 172nd by FIFA) and North Macedonia (ranked 65th by FIFA).

For Alexander-Arnold, he’ll lose time off trying to prove to Gareth Southgate—a manager who’s shown he neither respects nor knows how to deploy the league’s second top creative force after Kevin de Bruyne and England’s most creative player since David Beckham—he belongs in the side.