You can play 5-minute fantasy rounds during the Denmark v. England match with our Picklive fantasy game

There are some very recognizable names in this Danish squad, the most obvious being Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner, although Anders Lindegaard, Lars Jacobsen, Daniel Agger, and Christian Poulsen all also play in the Premiership. Bendtner will be the one to watch, because in spite of often finding himself on the bench, he can prove quite dangerous.

Meanwhile, his teammate Jack Wilshere looks to be starting for England after Capello said “In the last two months, he has improved a lot with his confidence” about the young player. He will probably feature a little deeper in the midfield, after Wenger endorsed him in that position. Capello has been given a bit of a selection headache, having to alter his squad after four players (Steven Gerrard. Ben Foster, Peter Crouch and Gabriel Agbonlahor) withdrew due to fitness and personal reasons. This means that Rob Green and Carlton Cole find themselves included after all. It also means that Frank Lampard will be wearing the armband for the first time. Darren Bent is expected to join Rooney up front.

I’m not overly optimistic about this match. After sailing through qualifiers for the World Cup, England has looked a bit of a mess. Something, some confidence and connections between the players, has gone. This is our last friendly before Euro qualifiers start up again, so let’s hope we find it again.

Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow during the match for a liveblog with Ethan and hopefully myself!

Full Squad
Goalkeepers: Ben Foster (Birmingham) [withdrawn], Robert Green (West Ham), Joe Hart (Man City), David Stockdale (Fulham)
Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Joleon Lescott (Man City), John Terry (Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Aston Villa)
Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Man City), Stewart Downing (Aston Villa), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) [withdrawn], Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Man City), Scott Parker (West Ham), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Forwards: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa) [withdrawn], Darren Bent (Aston Villa), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Tottenham) [withdrawn], Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

While we haven’t all forgiven England for taking our hearts, tearing them out, and crushing them into the dirt, this is a very important game in that it will set the tone for our qualifying campaign. Capello and co. will obviously want to get the bad taste of South Africa 2010 out of their mouths, and the way to do it is to put out an impressive showing. This is the last match before the qualifiers start, if Capello wants to do any experimenting, this is his chance. This is the beginning of letting go of that performance. Whatever Capello’s direction for the next two years is going to be, it starts 21 days from now.

So what did we, or indeed Capello, learn from the match? Probably not that much. It was an easy win, obviously played at half pace. There was encouregingly good link up between Wayne Rooney (who played 45 minutes) and Joe Cole (the full 90) the former setting the latter up for England’s second goal.

Joe Cole playing on the left allowed Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard to play together in the centre of midfield, and it was…okay. Gerrard played in a much deeper role – basically Barry’s role – which gave Lampard free reign to stay up with the strikers. Gerrard set up Jermaine Defoe for the opening goal.

Joe Hart started in goal (though it doesn’t count as an England start as it isn’t a full international) and didn’t do much except watch Glen Johnson give away a Penalty, which was blazed over the Crossbar. He had nothing to do. Rob Green took over, and didn’t have much more to do.

So a nothing match, and the main thing is no injuries, and a few players (Joe and Ashley Cole, Rooney) looked in good shape. Hopefully, Fabio now knows his starting XI and all we can do now is cross fingers and hope that the best XI players run out onto the field on Saturday against America.

Usually, the main point of friendlies is to learn. To try things out, to see what works, and build from it. Certainly, last night’s friendly with Egypt (highlights above) was quite productive in that case.

4-4-2 Should Be Left In The Past

We’ve got a big soft spot in this country for 4-4-2 as we won the World Cup using it. But the game has changed, and we’ve looked much better in Capello’s 4-2-2-1-1 formation. Or 4-1-3-1-1. Whatever it is. He experiemented last night with 4-4-2, mainly to employ a new strike partnership, and it didn’t really work – Gerrard was too deep and restricted, and we only had one way to attack. Expect us to line up against Mexico with Capello’s preferred formation back.

Peter Crouch is now ahead of Jermaine Defoe in the pecking order.

Both will likely to go to South Africa, but you now have to feel that Defoe is going to be Rooney’s back up, rather than his potential partner. Crouch meanwhile, has to have a real shot at being Rooney’s starting partner in South Africa – 20 goals in 37 appearances speaks for itself. What was notable, was that Crouch scored two from the bench, but both were along the ground. Never mind that one was offside – the point is he gives England two ways to attack instead of Defoe’s one – he is obviously a threat in the air, but he can have the ball crossed low to him as well, and can score.

Rob Green is probably going to keep goal in South Africa

I can’t imagine that, unless he embaressed himself, Rob Green would have played 90 minutes last night and not been favourite to play a starting role in South Africa. He’s a solid choice – while he isn’t quite in the form Joe Hart is in, he does have more experience, and always seems to have a pretty steady head. And he can save penalties. So I’m happy to get behind him, and reconsider Joe Hart for after the World Cup.

The position on the Right Wing is still up for grabs.

It’d be weird if we lined up in South Africa without Theo Wallcott, who lest we forget, was a big part of us getting there, but he looked really out of match practise yesterday. Shaun Wright-Phillips came on to replace him, and two things were notable after his (slightly lucky, lets be honest) goal – David Beckham was on his feet clapping before anyone else, which made me smile, clearly he’s just pleased for England to win, and Fabio Capello allowed himself a wry smile. He knows he’s got a call to make about that right wing berth.

The 45 Minutes Hoodoo Might Still Be There

Under Sven, the big criticism of the team was that they could only really perform over 45 minutes. This wasn’t strictly true – we beat Argentina in 2002 because of a 90 minute rearguard performance for example – but there were games, such as the one against Sweden in that World Cup that that might have been true of. Last night we trailed after 45 minutes, but performed much much better in the second half and won the game. Lets hope its not something here to stay.

Fans are only going to boo John Terry when he looks shakey

Obviously, to start with John Terry was going to get a rough reception, even at Wembley. I don’t have a huge problem with it, along as its not gratuitous, and to be fair, the boos petered out as the game continued, probably because Terry started making good tackles and clearances. It wasn’t a top-drawer performance by any standard, but he looked a bit better than he has for Chelsea of late.

Gerrard needs a Free Role

When he was trapped a proper winger i the first half, he looked pretty average, but in the second half he roamed all around the pitch often trying to find a way to link up with Rooney. Defensively that’s a worry as he’ll still have a job to do when we come up against a team with real quality wide players, but attacking he needs to space to express himself.

Next Wednesday England run out at Wembley to launch their new kit, to prepare for the World Cup group game against Algeria by playing Egypt, their local rivals and recent winners of the African Cup of Nations.

It could have just been a run out, even with the World Cup approaching, but with the defensive issues that Fabio is facing means this is a big opportunity for quite a few players to book their places on the plane to South Africa.

First up – the position of Left Back. Now that Wayne Bridge has ruled himself out and with Ashley Cole still far from a certainty to be match fit for South Africa, someone is going to have to step up and impress. Smart money is on Leighton Baines, could be a big night for him.

At Centre-Half, new Captain Rio Ferdinand is injured, as is definitely out. John Terry will play, but needless to say he’s got a bit to prove nowadays. Hopefully it’ll bring the best out of him, and whoever he’s partnered with.

Right back is still a bit of an issue too. Glen Johnson is currently injured, so there’s a chance for someone to nick a spot there. And lest we forget that the position of Goalkeeper is hardly set in stone. So the whole back five will have something to prove.

And as Egypt showed at the CAN, they are a good side, and they’ll want to beat England. Even its just to put the pressure on Algeria in SA.

All in all, its the most exciting friendly we’ve had in ages. Roll on Wednesday.

No England football fixtures for a while, but our next game has just been announced. It is:

England vs Egypt
March 3rd, 2010 at Wembley.

Egypt aren’t going to World Cup 2010 as they narrowly missed out after losing the specially arranged playoff to their North African rivals (and our Group C opponents) Algeria. But Egypt are a fine team, as Africa Cup of Nations wins in 2006 and 2008 suggest. They’ll play us after the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, so could even be consecutive three time winners by the time they come to Wembley.

If you want to get even more familiar with Egypt then follow our coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations 2010 on the WorldCupBlog front page and/or pay a visit to Tamim at Egypt WCB.

For us, this will be the first game in the buildup to South Africa. Seems smart enough, assuming there are superficial similarities between Algeria and Egypt. Will be interesting to see whether Capello goes with the first XI he plans to start at the World Cup or does a bit of experimentation to figure out who will make his 23 man squad.

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, England had 12 players injured or rendered unavailable for a variety of reasons. Give or take a few players this was basically a second string side. So losing 1-0 to a slightly understrength Brazil isn’t too bad. Many players gave encouraging performances. That being said, Brazil fully deserved the win, and we were outplayed through the whole match.

I was the most worried about our back four, especially since they would be facing someone so fear inspiring at Kaka. With Ferdinand, Terry and Johnson out, it was thorough improvised made up of Brown, Upson, Lescott, and Bridge. You can see why I was worried? But through most of the game, with the obvious exception of the one goal (Nilmar just zipped straight through Bridge and Upson), they were pretty effective at shutting Brazil down. Brazil were pretty effective at launching attacks, however Foster wasn’t forced to save that much thanks to his defense.

Which brings us to Foster. I am not his biggest fan, I think he always looks extremely panicked in games, which is definitely not desirable in a keeper. And while that crazy look crept into his eyes several times, for the most part he kept his head. Of course, as I said earlier, he wasn’t really tested that much but hopefully this game will serve as a confidence booster (the goal conceded really wasn’t his fault).

Our attack was pretty much nonexistent. When we did get past the halfway line (which was not very much) we lacked width, we lacked inspiration. Rooney, Bent, and eventually Defoe (when Bent made room for him) were rendered mostly useless. Whenever Rooney actually got the ball it was because he dropped incredibly far back, a place where not even he could score. The midfield had trouble getting the ball forward and bursting up the wing. Young James Milner looked really good on defense, chasing balls down left and right, but needs to work on his long balls and passing in general.

Of course this is just a friendly, but it could have some ramifications. There is a chance that we would have to field this side in the World Cup, it’s unlikely but not impossible. And really, considering they were playing a quite good side they did alright. Hopefully the players came away with a clear picture of what they did well and what they need to work on between now and June. I’m sure Mr. Capello has a very clear picture of what he wants them to work on.

Our illustrious captain Wayne Rooney said:

“It was a difficult game for us. We created some chances but Brazil were the better team and deserved to win, that’s disappointing. Brazil move the ball so well, they make you chase every yard, and that’s hard over 90 minutes, but we’re better than we showed tonight. We’re looking to improve with every game and thankfully this is only a friendly, so we’ll try to move on.”

I know, I’m surprised at the relative eloquence as well. I agree with everything he said. That game is done, England will move on. We don’t play again til March, so there’s a lot of time for tweaking to be done.

Bit of a weird game. We looked decent going forward, but made two absolutely woeful errors in defence. First Rio Ferdinand gave the ball away, and then stood back to see what would happen. A Dirk Kuyt goal was what happened.

Next it was Gareth Barry’s turn to pass the ball directly to an Oranje shirt while under zero pressure. Robert Green saved from Arjen Robben but Rafel van der Vaart scored the rebound. 2-0.

But then Jermain Defoe came on at half-time, and four minutes later had the ball in the back of the net. Just under 30 minutes later he did it again. So thank you thank you for Jermain Defoe. Unless you’re Michael Owen of course, in which case the little Spurs striker is making you look redundant.

Robert Green; Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole; David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Ashley Young; Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.

I likes the looks of that, and fingers crossed Ashley Young puts in a decent performance.

And if I was a betting man, my money would be on a 1-1 draw.

Feel free to leave any comments about the game below, and we’ll get video/recap up later today.

Probably the most notable thing about the match however was the cursed striker position. Not long after scoring, Heskey limped off replaced by Carlton Cole who was soon carried off, replaced by a not 100% Peter Crouch, who predictably left the proceedings early. Certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be Carrick who came on for Crouch. Rooney looked like he was limping a bit towards the end, but his last minute goal may put minds to rest a little.

So some thoughts on the match:

Firstly – Rooney was our best man. His link up play with Gerrard was very good first half (I always think Lampard links up better with Roo, but was not the case today, with Gerrard and Rooney interweaving to cause havok for the Slovak defence).

That other age old debate, I thought both Lampard and Gerrard were fine. Gerrard only played the first 45, but I sort of don’t understand this thing about them not being able to play together. It seems that unless both have mind blowing performances, the nation won’t be satisfied.

The New kit – Well its very white. I think it would look better with blue shorts myself, with white there’s a look of Wimbledon (Tennis, not the now non-existant club) circa 50 years ago. Its pretty plain, which is fine as its a throwback, but for all the talk about tailoring, the only players who look alright in it are Lampard (who oddly looks like a 50s player in it) and Beckham who it seems can wear anything. It does keep the star, but oddly in white, so you can’t really see it. Only problem I’d have with it, is I’d begrudge paying £40 for something so plain.

Back on the pitch and Beckham came on at HT and broke Bobby Moore’s outfield player caprecord at last, which means we shouldn’t hear much about it for a bit. I’m happy its someone like Becks who has the record, as it a) shows just what pure determination can do and b) I can’t think of a player who has worn the Three Lions in the last few years who that kind of thing would mean more to.

Ben Foster also came on at half time, but he didn’t have a great deal to do to be honest. Mind you better to make first international steps like that rather than in a really important game in the rain. Ask Scott Carson. I still would rather see Green in games like this

So a confident performance from England. We possibly should have dominated more, but I think there was an element of saving themselves for Wednesday. Heskey opened the scoring early on thanks to a Steven Gerrard cross along the six yard box. James only had to make one big save in the first 45, thanks to an Upson mistake.

Speaking of defensive mistakes, Skrtel had a mare for Slovakia. I mean a really really bad game.

England’s second came from a beautifully weighted David Beckham ball which Rooney headed (yes, Rooney, headed! Thats how good a cross it was) in. He immediately went over to thank England’s most capped outfield player.

Lampard’s goal was brilliantly taken as well – England took a freekick quickly (forgetting who was playing Right Wing for a sec) Carrick teeing up Lampard on the edge of the box, who took a touch inside to place it across the goal.

Rooney capped off the game with a goal with the air of offside about it – Downing played him in, he jinked past the keeper and stuck it in the top of the net.

The big question then, is who is going to play up front for England against the Ukraine? Fabio has to call up someone, but not sure who (is Owen fit at the mo?). Maybe he’ll just opt for Rooney with Gerrard and dare I say it, Lampard behind him? Who knows.