Fabio Capello will definitely take David Beckham to World Cup 2010, provided he’s fit. At least that’s what he told Gazzetta dello Sport (which I then read in the Daily Telegraph)…
“Certainly (I’ll call up Beckham) if he is playing and physically fit.
“I don’t look at age, I look at qualities and Beckham has lots. [...]

Fabio Capello has said he knows his five England penalty takers for the 2010 World Cup, should a World Cup match come down to you know what. And it probably will. The Telegraph suggests this should be a psychological boost to the England team, and I hope they’re right, but that sort of ignores the [...]

Seems I may have gotten a little over-excited about Jack Wilshere’s chances of making the England World Cup 2010 squad earlier this season. I honestly thought the 17 (soon to be 18) year old Arsenal midfielder would play a bit more for Arsenal this season. He’s been involved, but he’s mostly been on the bench. [...]

I know. That headline looks silly. Because despite his recent run of form and the above performance vs Man Utd, Fulham’s Bobby Zamora isn’t brilliant.
But he’s not bad either, and he’s in form, and – crucially – he looks as if he can play the Heskey role.

The England 2018 World Cup bid team has announced its 12 candidate host cities and 17 proposed stadiums. These are the proposed locations for matches should we win the World Cup hosting contest.
Ready to read? The list of 12 cities and 17 stadiums is below. Most are already existing, but at least two will [...]

I preferred it when we could be all xenophobic and claim that only those funny-named foreigners did things like diving and English players would never resort to such shameful chicanery.
But if we’re going to start doing it, then at least do it well enough to convince the referee. Looking at you Wayne Rooney. You [...]

Yep, Michael Owen bagged a hat-trick for Man Utd vs Wolfsburg in the Champions League. A pretty nice mix of finishes too: One header, one tap-in, and one burst of speed before beating the keeper one on one. It was in many ways vintage Michael Owen. Especially the burst of speed part. So is it [...]

With the game level at 2-2, Spurs won a penalty vs Everton in stoppage time. And so it was Jermain Defoe of England taking the penalty vs Tim Howard of the USA. Defoe put it straight down the middle and the American keeper saved with his feet. Not a great start to the England vs [...]

I’m a big fan of The Times writer Patrick Barclay, particularly his appearances on The Game podcast (which I heartily recommend). However, I find myself disagreeing quite strongly with Barclay’s recent article concerning potential successors to Fabio Capello. Especially this line:

Everyone agrees that Fabio Capello is one of the main reasons for increased optimism about [...]

Spurs beat Wigan 9-1 (not a typo) this weekend with England’s own Jermain Defoe backing five of the goals. A hat-trick and two thirds of way to another hat-trick.
My favourite thing about those five is the range it demonstrates in Defoe’s finishing: From movement in the box to close range acrobatics to sniper like accuracy [...]