There are several spots where England is quite obviously weak: right back, and goal keeper. However there are a lot of question marks and men that need to prove themselves in that starting XI. We have two quality central defenders, but we don’t seem to have any reliable substitutes for them. We have several promising youngsters donning the England shirt (Milner comes to mind) in midfield, but our number of tried and true is basically down to Frank Lampard and David Beckham at a stretch. Hell, Rooney doesn’t even have a consistent strike partner (Crouch or Defoe?).

This game against Brazil, even though it doesn’t really matter, may crush our World Cup hopes and dreams 7 months before the tournament even begins. Well obviously it won’t literally prove the downfall of our run, but it is definitely showing our many weaknesses. Players get injured in tournaments, playing so many games so close together is hard on the body. Most clubs pitch a fit if they have to play 2 games in 4 days (looking at you Sir Alex). There’s a good chance that we could see many of those players who are sitting on the sidelines now will be right where they are this June. Our little Lions have a lot of growing up to do, because they may just find themselves out on the pitch world’s biggest tournament comes round.

Fabio also thanked Sir Alex’s non-interfearence policy by not picking Wayne Rooney anyway, replaced in the squad by Gabby Agbonlahor, who has the company of five of his teammates in the squad.

Rob Green also (at last) gets his call up. Full squad, and my reaction, after the jump.

Goalkeepers: Green (West Ham), Hart (Man City), James (Portsmouth).

Defenders: Bridge (Man City), A Cole (Chelsea), R Ferdinand (Man Utd), Jagielka (Everton), G Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Upson (West Ham), L Young (Villa).

Midfielders: Beckham (LA Galaxy), Barry (Villa), Carrick (Man Utd), Downing (Middlesbrough), Lampard (Chelsea), Milner (Villa), Wright-Phillips (Man City), A Young (Villa).

Forwards: Agbonlahor (Villa), C Cole (West Ham), Crouch (Portsmouth), Heskey (Villa).

Looks okay, other than perhaps a lack of firepower up front. I don’t really think the England squad is ready for yet another Cole just yet, despite his good form. I assume however that Fabio will continue playing 4-5-1, with Agbonlahor leading the line.

I assume Ashley Young is going to play Left against Spain too, which is an overdue call-up for him. Gareth Barry and Stewart Downing can both play in that position as well. There’s obviously a few inclusions that are there just because of injuries (Milner), but its an ok midfield.

I do think its good to see Green in the squad (I’d like to see him play too to see how he copes with a semi-pressure enviroment), Jags has played well for Everton, and its good to have both Terry and Rio for once.

Beckham will of course equal Bobby Moore outfield record if he plays (he likely will) against Spain.

Not bad, Fabio.

Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson is error-prone, with a shattered confidence in international competition. David James is error-prone, sometimes comically so. Scott Carson may have been fatally scarred by McClaren’s ludicrous decision to give him his competitive debut against a superb Croatian side in a must-win qualifying game. Ben Foster isn’t exactly playing much this season. Good luck.

Central Defence: When your first-choice defence is available, it’s one of the best out there. Sadly, it never is. John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are a superb pairing. Ferdinand has a tendency to get distracted and do something quite silly – you may want to assign someone to poke him with a stick when he looks like he’s drifting off. You might want to persuade Jamie Carragher to return to the team to provide some depth, but you’re generally good. As long as they aren’t all injured, in which case you’ll get the chance to watch Joleon Lescott and Sol Campbell. The latter is great, provided he’s not marking anyone with the capacity to run. And please, for the love of God, never play the former as a left-back. Even centre-back is pushing it, frankly.

Full Backs: Both Ashley Cole and Micah Richards are solid full-backs. You’d better hope that Ashley Cole is never injured, because the alternative is Wayne Bridge. Don’t be worried if you’ve never heard of him – just pray you’ll never need to. Richards is big and skillful but not particularly tactically aware. You’ll probably want to work on that, although the McClaren Method – ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away magically during key matches – is always an option.

The (Central) Midfield: This is one area where your new team isn’t at all bad. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can’t play together in the centre, but then I don’t need to tell you that – presumably you’ve seen an England game at some stage over the last four years. You may want to try playing Gerrard on the right wing, though, as, well, he’s a right winger. Owen Hargreaves and Gareth Barry are both great, underrated holding midfielders who are very difficult to take the piss out of. The same goes for Michael Carrick. Jermaine Jenas isn’t what you’d call a good player, but he can play in a pinch and probably won’t embarrass himself. Much.

The Wingers: On the right, you have a few unsatisfactory options. On the left … look, let’s be honest: there are none. Sorry to be the one to break it to you. Shaun Wright-Phillips? You’ve got two options: face up to reality and let him train as a runner rather than a footballer, or take the Ian Wright approach (smile and wax lyrical about the last time he dribbled the ball, ignoring the seven crosses he sent sailing into touch and the open goals he missed). David Beckham? Pretend you’re playing American Football and use him just for the set pieces. For the rest of the game, he can stand on the right wing and cross the ball whenever he gets it – it’s not like he has the legs to do much else. Stewart Downing? McClaren was a big fan – is there anything more damning? Aaron Lennon? Not exactly living up to his potential at Spurs, although he has it by the bucketload – make of that what you will. Joe Cole? He’s fantastic, but he’s right-footed and has never seemed comfortable playing on the left-wing, generally cutting into the centre when he has the ball rather than playing down the left. Then again, you don’t have anyone else, so you’ll just have to make it work. God knows how, but you’re a better man than me, Fabio.

The Strikers: England have lots of good strikers, the best of whom have spent most of their England playing career in hospital. Wayne Rooney can be a phenomenal player when he’s in the mood, but tends to vanish when he’s not. He’s also not really a pure striker, preferring more of a deep-lying playmaker role, so you need another top-class striker to partner him. You don’t have one, so you’ll probably have to settle for Peter Crouch, England’s premier late-game substitute, as your key striker. Michael Owen is a great goalscoring threat when he’s fit; sadly, this situation is generally a once-in-a-managerial-career occurrence. The man could pick up a potentially career-ending injury while sat reading quietly to himself in a chair, so imagine how often he actually plays football nowadays.

The Youth: You have a few great youngsters on the way up, such as Theo Walcott and Gabriel Agbonlahor. The English youth system is useless, so you might want to consider populating it with naturalised foreigners – you may want to import and naturalise a few half-decent left-wingers, possibly from Africa, in time for the next World Cup.

And with that, I wish you good luck.

2) Slight dinks to Ashley Cole and John Terry turn out to be nothing.

I’ll have to leave it to folks who saw the match to evaluate the players. But, as I say, you couldn’t have scripted a better final tune-up for Germany. One week to Paraguay!

Nice write-up of the match here.

Sorted.

1) Peter Crouch and Michael Owen will start up front.

2) Owen Hargreaves will get another look as holding midfielder.

3) Frank Lampard reckons Sven’s tinkering is all right.

2) Wayne Rooney is back to light training, which gratifies Sven to no end. As it should, since no less a football pundit than his countryman, Freddie Ljungberg, avers that England will be doomed without him.

I work in the media business and I know it’s rules. But I watched the friendly against Hungary and I simply cannot understand how the British football press is capable of articles like this:

“Chances of Glory in Germany Slip From Slim to None”

and

“England Victims of Constant Tinkering”

I mean, I wasn’t watching Brazil out there on Tuesday, but fuck me: this was not bad football, particularly in the second half.

Tight-assed bastards like these two deserve to follow a losing team. England may not be world-beaters, but they deserve better than this bullshit.

Anyway, Johnson speaks here about his new squad and his national team hopes.

Bully for him!