Crouch Back, But Still No Owen

Fabio Capello crossed his fingers through the Premier League weekend and hoped for no injuries. And he mostly got his wish. Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole came through unharmed (with Rooney notching a nice goal) but Joe Cole’s foot injury was deemed bad enough for him to be left out.

Form-wise, David Bentley is out and Shaun Wright-Phillips is in (no arguments here) while Jimmy Bullard won’t be too surprised that he’s been asked to step aside for Steven Gerrard.

Peter Crouch has scissor-kicked his way back into the squad, but Michael Owen has been ignored again despite being fit enough to play in all Newcastle’s recent games.

I feel bad for Owen because he’s a great servant to the national team, but to be honest I’m not too worried that we’ll miss him.

Fabio’s 23 man squad for the games against Kazakhstan and Belarus are below:

Goalkeepers: James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham), Carson (West Bromwich)

Defenders: Bridge (Chelsea), A Cole, Terry (both Chelsea), Brown, Ferdinand (Man United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Lescott (Everton), Upson (West Ham)

Midfielders: Barry (Aston Villa), Gerrard (Liverpool), Jenas (Tottenham), Wright-Phillips (Man City), Lampard (Chelsea), Downing (Middlesbrough), Beckham (LA Galaxy)

Forwards: Rooney (Man United), Defoe (Portsmouth), Walcott (Arsenal), Heskey (Wigan), Crouch (Portsmouth)