It is safe to say none of the 55 England players named in Thomas Tuchel's provisional World Cup squad will let their phones leave their sight for the next few hours.

Whether they are in or out, by the time the England manager publicly announces his final 26-man selection on Friday, everyone will have been contacted – and told their fate.

For some, the shock will be the fact they will be on the plane to the US, Canada and Mexico – for others, it will be hearing how they are staying at home.

From the elation of making the cut to the despair of missing out, BBC pundits Micah Richards, Joe Hart, Theo Walcott and Stephen Warnock share their stories of what it is like to get a call before a major tournament with news that will make or break your summer.

And, if you think being told face-to-face is any better, Martin Keown recalls the aftermath of arguably the most famous England squad omission of all.

Who is pushing for late England World Cup call-up?

Micah Richards had already missed out on Euro 2008 with England after a dramatic late home defeat by Croatia meant the Three Lions failed to qualify

Two days after Manchester City won the Premier League title in May 2012, England boss Roy Hodgson was set to name his squad for the European Championship finals.

City right-back Micah Richards had spent much of the past 48 hours partying after his side's famous 'Aguero moment' and now he was expecting more reason to celebrate.

"I'd been recalled for England's previous game, under caretaker manager Stuart Pearce, and played against the Netherlands in February," Richards remembered.

"I'd made 23 starts for City that season to help us win the league and one of my rivals for the England right-back slot, Kyle Walker, was definitely out of the tournament injured.

"I'd kind of convinced myself I was going to Poland and Ukraine, and I was at home, literally sitting and waiting for the call from Roy… but, when my phone rang, it was Pearce's name that flashed up.

"I thought, 'this is weird, why is he calling me?' He was my old City boss but also the England Under-21 coach at the time, and I didn't think it would be anything important, just that he would be wishing me luck at the tournament.

"Then he says to me, 'Hodgson's not going to pick you'. I didn't know what to say – I just wanted to cry. I look back now and think Roy should have called me himself.

"In the same conversation, Stuart said that Hodgson had asked me to go on standby, but he wanted me himself in his squad for the London Olympics. I couldn't do both.

"Pearce was very honest with me, and said there could be injuries that meant I still got the England call, but I decided to go where I would be appreciated, and go to the Olympics with him.

"The way it was portrayed in the press, though, I had said no to England. Especially when Gary Cahill got injured in a warm-up match and Liverpool right-back Martin Kelly, who wasn't even on the standby list, got called up for the Euros.

"Suddenly I was supposedly the one with the bad attitude, who didn't want to play for England or felt he was too good to be on standby – which was not true at all.

"I was at home, almost in tears and feeling so low, and reading reports that I had snubbed my country, when I would never do that.

"Roy never picked me again, of course. That was the end of my international career.

"When I first got in the England team aged 18, I thought I would end up with 70 or 80 caps. Instead I finished with 13, and my last appearance came when I was 23."

World Cup 2026: Every nation's squad as they are announced

Who will make the plane? Stephen Warnock (left) and Leighton Baines warm up before England's pre-World Cup friendly against Japan in Austria in May 2010

Ashley Cole was cemented as England's first-choice left-back for the 2010 World Cup, but who would go to South Africa as his understudy?

With Wayne Bridge making himself unavailable, the choice for boss Fabio Capello came down to either Everton's Leighton Baines or Aston Villa's Stephen Warnock, who both made the provisional squad.

When the group returned home from their pre-tournament training camp in Austria, it was still unclear who he would take.

"We were told we'd get a phone call one way or another," Warnock recalled. "We knew the call would come on the day the squad came out, from a certain number and before a certain time, because they would be announcing it straight afterwards. So I was at home, literally just waiting by the phone.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting to go because in the two warm-up games we'd just played, against Mexico and Japan, I hadn't kicked a ball.

"My England career at that point was the seven minutes I'd played against Trinidad and Tobago two years earlier, in June 2008.

"I'd gone to Austria with an ankle injury that I'd picked up in Villa's last game of the season.

"I went on holiday but had a scan when I was away and then spoke to the physios when I came back and basically told them I am going to do everything I can to get in the World Cup squad.

"I told them to strap me up and I would limp through training for the first week. When I was in Austria I was having physio every hour of the day I could get it, and I worked on my ankle as much as possible.

"I don't know if that was being relayed to the management, but when I didn't play in either game, I thought that was me done, that Capello wasn't going to take me now.

"I remember exactly where I was when I got the call.

"I am divorced now but I was in the house with my now ex-wife and I went upstairs to my bedroom when the phone rang, because I just wanted to be on my own. I just remember walking downstairs saying 'I'm going!' and I was probably in a bit of shock.

"It was Franco Baldini [Capello's assistant] who rang and I have no idea if he called everyone else to tell them – I didn't know how it worked, and I didn't care!

"Baldini just said, 'listen, you've had a great season, we knew what you were capable of anyway and we love your attitude – we think you will be perfect around the camp for training and things like that.

"'You know Ash is going to be difficult to budge, because he doesn't get injured and he doesn't not play, but we think you're the perfect back-up to him, in terms of your professionalism and everything else'.

"I was like, "yeah 100%, that will do me". I knew what my role would be anyway, so that was fine."

While the good news came as a surprise to Warnock, a clue was already out there.

The previous day, England kit manufacturer Umbro had sent muralists to the hometowns of every player in the squad to paint their shirt number in a prominent place as a play on their 'tailored by' slogan.

For Warnock, that was a wall on the side of the O'Este restaurant at a busy crossroads in Ormskirk.

'Tailored by Ormskirk' – the mural with Warnock's World Cup squad number that appeared the night before he was told he was going to South Africa

"When I told people I was in, everyone was like 'I saw that mural last night, and I didn't know what it was – it makes sense now'," Warnock added.

"I remember driving down to see it thinking, 'if only I'd gone past here last night, I would have known I was going!'

"I didn't get to play in South Africa, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I just looked at it as if I had a front-row seat to the biggest tournament in world football."

Giroud, Azpilicueta and McCarthy join BBC World Cup team

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He'd been having a difficult time of it at club level, but Joe Hart did not think his England future was in doubt as the 2018 World Cup approached.

Sure, the inexperienced Jordan Pickford (two caps) and Jack Butland (seven) had started the previ

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The boss of EasyJet has said the airline will not be affected by jet fuel shortages this summer, but says people are booking flights later because of the uncertainty caused by Iran war.

Kenton Jarvis told the BBC travellers should not panic as the airline had seen no issues with fuel supplies, adding that people could book with confidence.

The conflict in the Middle East has led to the effective blockade of the key Strait of Hormuz waterway, normally a key route for Europe's jet fuel, and this has led to near doubling in fuel prices.

Earlier this week, rival carrier Ryanair said Europe remained "relatively well supplied with jet fuel".

On Wednesday, it emerged that plans to impose a ban on UK imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil in third countries have been watered down amid concerns over supplies and price rises.

However, Jarvis told the BBC's Today programme: "We've seen absolutely no issues with fuel supply in any of our airports in the UK across Europe or indeed beyond."

He added the carrier stayed in close contact with its fuel suppliers, airports and governments and "they're equally raising no issues looking forward".

"I would absolutely say don't panic about it, at EasyJet we fully intend to fly the summer schedule that we have on sale," he said, adding that the airline would not be adding fuel surcharges to fares.

Jarvis said fuel production had increased in Norway, West Africa and the Americas, while "refining capacity for jet fuel has also increased substantially outside of the Gulf region".

One change EasyJet had seen was a "shortened booking window", with demand strong for flights departing the same month, Jarvis said.

"As you look further out people are more cautious, people are waiting and watching, but they are booking… and I expect that strong late booking market to run through the summer."

The trend of later bookings echoes that seen by other travel firms. Jet2 said last month that bookings had "become increasingly close to departure" since the beginning of the conflict, while Tui said it had seen a 10% fall in revenue from summer holiday bookings made by UK customers.

Travel agent group Advantage Travel Partnership said "strong demand for holidays departing in the coming weeks suggests consumers remain cautious about committing too far ahead", although it added the "continued momentum in the late-booking market also underlines that appetite for travel remains resilient".

Jarvis's comments on delayed bookings came as EasyJet reported a pre-tax loss of £552m for the six months to March. Airlines typically make losses over the winter then look to make profits during the peak summer holiday season.

The carrier reiterated that its financial performance during the second half of the year would be affected by higher fuel costs and uncertainty over customer demand.

Earlier this year, EasyJet said it would be trimming the number of seats it had on sale this summer by 0.3%. The airline has also said the Iran war had added an extra £25m to its fuel bill in March.

In late February, before the first US and Israeli airstrikes, jet fuel was trading at $831 a tonne in Europe. By early April, it had touched $1,838 a tonne before beginning to fall. It is now down to around $1,300.

EasyJet said it had signed deals – or hedged – for 72% of its fuel supply for the six months to the end of September at pre-Iran war prices. For the six months over the 2026-27 winter this falls to 53%.

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said EasyJet was "one of the more sensitive European airlines to fuel price fluctuations".

"The recent spike in fuel prices looks set to take a big toll on profitability," he said. "Even if the Middle East conflict is resolved in the near term, fuel prices are likely to remain elevated for some time."

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China has called on the US to stop using "coercion" and "threats" against its ally Cuba, after Washington indicted former leader Raúl Castro on murder charges.

An American court has accused the 94-year-old former president of conspiracy to kill US nationals over the 1996 downing of two planes, an incident which killed four people and fuelled diplomatic tensions between Washington and the Caribbean island.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to exert pressure on Cuba and has openly discussed toppling its communist regime.

On Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the US should "stop threatening force at every turn", and that Beijing "firmly supports Cuba".

On Wednesday, Castro was charged alongside five others of involvement in the shooting down of two planes travelling between Cuba and Florida three decades ago, and was indicted with offences which carry penalties of life in prison or death.

The aircraft, which were operated by the Cuban-American dissident group Brothers to the Rescue, were carrying three US citizens when they were downed, all of whom were killed.

At the time, Castro – who stepped down as president in 2018 – was head of the country's armed forces.

The incident caused outcry among Cuban exiles living in the US and has long been a source of contention between Washington and Havana.

Cuba's president Miguel Díaz-Canel has described the charges as "a political manoeuvre, devoid of any legal foundation".

The foreign minister of China, a long-standing supporter of Cuba, said Beijing opposed "any attempt by external forces to exert pressure on Cuba under any pretext".

Guo continued: "The United States should cease using sanctions and judicial apparatus as tools of coercion against Cuba and refrain from making threats of force at every turn.

"China resolutely supports Cuba in safeguarding its national sovereignty and dignity and opposes external interference."

It comes as the White House continues to ratchet up pressure on Cuba.

The US has imposed new sanctions on the country and imposed a blockade on oil to Cuba, a move which has resulted in blackouts and food shortages.

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order sanctioning officials in Cuba's energy, defence, financial and security sectors, as well as individuals the US alleges have carried out human rights abuses or stolen public assets.

Since capturing former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January to face trial in the US over charges of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, Trump has openly mused that Cuba is "ready to fall".

China has become closer to Cuba since President Xi Jinping's 2014 visit to the island.

In 2018, Cuba joined China's Belt and Road Initiative, which funded several strategic infrastructure projects on the island.

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