Fabio Capello has names his squad for next months World Cup qualifiers. The 24 man squad includes Gary Neville, who is the surprise in the pack after not having featured for England since 2007. Neville has won 85 caps for England so far, and if he plays next month he could equal Kenny Sansom's record of 86 caps for a full back.
Paul Robinson is expected to be picked as England's number one choice keeper - he hasn't featured for England since October 2007 when Steve McLaren's England side were beat by Russia in a Euro 2008 qualifier. David James is absent from the squad with a shoulder injury. Paul Green and Scott Carson are the other named keepers.
The full squad is as follows:
Keepers:Scott Carson (West Bromwich Albion), Robert Green (West Ham United), Paul Robinson (Blackburn Rovers)
Defence: Wayne Bridge (Manchester City), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Joleon Lescott (Everton), Gary Neville (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham United)
Midfield: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Beckham (AC Milan loan from LA Galaxy), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Strikers: Carlton Cole (West Ham United), Peter Crouch (Portsmouth), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
It's appalling really that that is the 'best' we have got. Rooney is class there is no disputing. But agree totally on Heskey and Cole, and surely I can't be the only one that gets completely frustrated everytime Crouch makes an appearance?
Agree with Dave, Gerrard and Rooney up front. which should release Lampard to play as he does for Chelsea. And he won't be clashing with Stevie G in midfield.
Crouch, Heskey and Cole should not be anyway near an International Squad. How English Football is missing A decent centre forward. It seemed at one stage we had an abundance, ie Sutton, Shearer, Sherringham, Fowler etc etc. Nothing has followed these guys Why ? Ok we have Owen but what the hell has happened to him since joining Newcastle ?
Leeds Warrior as a Leeds fan i would rather see Becks up front than Heskey or Crouch he certainly doesn't miss the net very ofton. I also think we should look at players like Sylvain Ebanks Blake if he does it in the Prem which i hope he does (i actually like wolves) As Willie says Crouch and Co. shouldn't be anywhere near the England squad.
Actually that is a fair point - Kevin Phillips is on fire (still) and hes only the same age as Beckham. Why not?
Ebanks-Blake has missed a couple of penalties this season - still can't grumble at his total tally though, and the guy is young enough to make a serious impact if he can pull it together in the prem.
You like Wolves Dave??? Thats a first lol, we don't get many people say that!
Becks is 26. I dont' think he will have a chance to play for England to be honest. He can hit the net and make goals from anything, but he is a greedy player and has a bad first touch and the rest of his game isn't great except scoring
It must be annoying to have finished 8 points clear of the team that finally went up? I dislike the playoffs for that very reason. Thankfully we didn't need them this year.
Ebanks-Blake has just turned 23, so I suppose he has time to make an impact.
Yeah it is and we did double of Scunny , but rather them go up then Millwall, we can get revenge on Millwall now by doing double over them next season.
Nothings impossible look at Hull and some of results they got! Ah, well most fans will enjoy us being down here, always next season - i said that last time
Warrior i think Becks is good but sometimes i wonder if with the amount we create in home games (He doesn't score away) anyone could get that amount. As for Wolves good support and have some good young players.
Phillips has been good but not England quality anymore same with Beckford unless there scoring week in week out in the prem they arn't going to get in the England team.
God knows but have faith in "The Don" he hasn't let us down and i think even these strikers should do a job for the 2 games but when were in a tournament we need better
Agree - so far so good with Capello as far as I'm concerned - and dare we say it? That qualification for the World Cup looks a good prospect? Hopefully we have time to find some better resources!
Carlton Cole is improving all the time - not the finished article though of course.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they dont like it." P Kenyon.
And agree with that PK. The same should be said of Crouch etc, Heskey should be no where need the squad. But like we have said Nothing else is around. Owen ? Done nothing wrong at International level. And if Heskey is to be included why not him ?
Crouch has scored a lot of goals for England (albeit against rather poor opposition at times) and being fair to him he got 16 goals for Pompey this season, which isnt far off Torres or Adebayor (who got 16) and is actually more than Tevez or Berbatov! (Not saying he's better than any of the other strikers of course).
Heskey shouldn't be in the squad as you've said. Owen could obviously do very well for England but he'd be picked on past merit, reputation and goals wouldnt he. Would that be fair on the likes of Crouch or Defore if someone like Owen who's hardly played and hence hardly scored any over the past couple of seasons was picked over them?
As you said there isnt really anyone else around though. And a good striker upfront to partner Rooney wouldn't go amiss! Walcott will be ready to play upfront in a season or two
I have said for a long while, Why isn't he pushed through the middle ? How come he spends life on the wing ? is that where Wenger sees him playing in the future do you think ?
Mind you Henry started out on the wing.
Agree with your comments on Owen. It just p...s me off to see the likes of Heskey etc included in the squad.
I reckon Wenger will start playing him through the middle more next season mate, he thinks Walcott needs to stock up a bit and learn to get past players. He's getting better definitely and his final ball is better than what it used to be. He's a big miss when we haven't got him.
I agree with you on the whole mate, if England are to win something definitely need to better than the likes of Heskey, Crouch or Carlton Cole.
Was just looking down the league at clubs, And English strikers. Boy it's depressing. Agbong la @#$%&, Bent, Defoe (i actually like) There really isn't anything about.
The Lords My Shepherd.
The future is bright. The future is Stripes.
Agbonlahor did well first half of the season but then really faded away (I'm sure your really fond of him ). Caused us problems with his pace.
Bent () is mediocre and Defoe () aint too bad to be fair.
As you said there's not enough decent strikers about at all.
Who'd you pick to play with Rooney out of the lot.
I'd pick Walcott, with Rooney just behind him. He'd definitely get behind the centre backs and Rooney could pick him out like he did against Croatia and that'd work alright IMO.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009:06:03:06:09:46 by pk_gunner.
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