dot   Home     World     Europe     England  
Flag England

England

England’s (Slightly Understrength But That’s OK) Squad to Face Brazil

capello compromiseFabio Capello has named his England squad for the November 14th friendly vs Brazil in Qatar. There was a bit of complaining in the run up, with Fergie suggesting the whole thing was a waste of time, and Rafa Benitez asking that Steven Gerrard be excused.

Capello ignored Fergie and selected as many Man Utd players as he wanted (including Wes Brown, who I’m glad to see back in the squad). But he agreed to Rafa’s request and gave Steven Gerrard the week off.

I thought I’d be angry about the Gerrard thing. Mostly because I wanted to see a full strength England squad take on Brazil. Mostly because that’s the only way we have a chance.

But it makes sense to let Gerrard rest, and not just because it keeps Rafa sweet. The Liverpool captain clearly needs the rest. And a break now has to be good for him in the long run. I still say friendlies are important, but Gerrard’s fitness in June 2010 is infinitely more so.

David James and Ashley Cole have been left out due to fitness worries, and still no callup for Michael Owen (who only played a handful of minutes for Man Utd vs Chelsea on Sunday, despite Dimitar Berbatov being unavailable). Emile Heksey (who I see as massively important to this team) is injured.

Enough about who’s not in the squad. Who is in the squad?

We’ve mentioned Wes Brown. The other notable callups are Villa’s Stephen Warnock (who may have the chance to establish himself as England’s third choice left back). James Milner and Ashley Young are in there, which is always good to see, while Jermain Jenas is back and big Tom Huddlestone gets his first senior callup. Last but not least, Darren Bent finally gets a reward for his Sunderland form. Here’s the squad:

GKs: Foster (Manchester United), Green (West Ham), Hart (Manchester City)
Defenders: Bridge (Manchester City), Brown (Manchester United), Cahill (Bolton), Johnson (Liverpool), Lescott (Manchester City), Terry (Chelsea), Upson (West Ham), Warnock (Aston Villa)
Mids: Barry (Manchester City), Beckham* (Los Angeles Galaxy), Carrick (Manchester United), Huddlestone, Jenas (both Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Milner (Aston Villa), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Young (Aston Villa)
Forwards: Bent (Sunderland), Crouch, Defoe (both Tottenham), Rooney (Manchester United).

*withdrawn, MLS playoffs.

Here’s the XI I’d like to see start this game.

Green
Johnson Terry Brown Bridge
Milner Lampard Barry Young
Rooney
Crouch

Any arguments?

UPDATE: After another round of dropouts, the squad now looks like this.

Subscribe

 

rss icon England Football World Cup Team Blog RSS Feed

Print

Share

Comments
By Matilda | November 10th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Top

Although I really rate Crouch, I’d start Defoe before him, I think Defoe and Rooney work better together. It is a tough decision though, and I don’t think Crouch is a bad option at all.
Johnson’s dropped out due to injury (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8353751.stm) so my new back four would probably look like
Brown Terry Upson Bridge
(as a Bolton fan I would like to put Cahill in instead of Upson, but Upson is probably the better player, and Bolton’s too unfashionable to actually have an England international)
Other than that I think it looks good

Posted from United States United States

By Rob | November 11th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Top

Would have loved to have seen Joe Cole out left, minus Gerrard, but C’est le vie.

Posted from United Kingdom United Kingdom

Comments are closed

 
 
 

MORE EUROPE BLOGS

france
France World Cup Blog
810 articles | 10,726 comments
 
croatia
Croatia World Cup Blog
197 articles | 1,839 comments
 
czechrepublic
Czech Republic World Cup Blog
196 articles | 320 comments
 
england
England Football World Cup Team Blog
844 articles | 2,987 comments
 
germany
Germany World Cup Blog Blog
521 articles | 3,198 comments
 
italy
Italy World Cup Blog
598 articles | 22,830 comments
 
netherlands
Netherlands World Cup Blog
2,066 articles | 29,464 comments
 
poland
Poland World Cup Blog
366 articles | 4,558 comments
 
portugal
Portugal World Cup Blog
458 articles | 7,100 comments
 
serbia
Serbia World Cup Team Blog
170 articles | 877 comments
 
spain
Spain World Cup Blog
236 articles | 1,947 comments
 
sweden
Sweden World Cup Blog
151 articles | 318 comments
 
switzerland
Switzerland World Cup Blog
217 articles | 327 comments
 
ukraine
Ukraine World Cup Team Blog
120 articles | 807 comments
 
greece
Greece World Cup Blog
147 articles | 79 comments
 
russia
Russia World Cup Blog
81 articles | 159 comments
 
scotland
Scotland World Cup Team Blog
102 articles | 110 comments
 
ireland
Ireland World Cup Team Blog
57 articles | 124 comments
 
norway
Norway World Cup Team Blog
12 articles | 8 comments
 
turkey
Turkey World Cup Blog
40 articles | 296 comments
 
romania
Romania World Cup Blog
78 articles | 281 comments
 
austria
Austria World Cup Blog
111 articles | 117 comments
 
denmark
Denmark World Cup Team Blog
8 articles | 27 comments
 
albania
Albania World Cup Team Blog
4 articles | 8 comments
 
belgium
Belgium World Cup Team Blog
49 articles | 59 comments
 
wales
Wales World Cup Team Blog
61 articles | 17 comments
 
bosnia
Bosnia World Cup Team Blog
31 articles | 89 comments
 
israel
Israel World Cup Team Blog
22 articles | 18 comments
 
slovakia
Slovakia World Cup Team Blog
2 articles | 2 comments
 
slovenia
Slovenia World Cup Team Blog
1 articles | 1 comments
 

CATEGORIES & ARCHIVES

 
 
Closer