Should Heskey start against Algeria?

England

Mon, June 14th 2010

Despite a good performance against USA, Heskey’s weaknesses are impossible to hide.

Sat, June 12th 2010

Green slip gives USA draw

England 1 - USA 1

A calamitous slip from England’s Rob Green gifted USA a draw after England took an early lead.

Fri, June 4th 2010

England captain Rio Ferdinand will miss the World Cup after suffering ligmament damage to his left knee in the team’s first training session in South Africa.

Steven Gerrard will now take over as England captain for the tournament.

From: BBC

Ferdinand will be replaced by Spurs’ Michael Dawson.

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Tue, June 1st 2010

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott was the surprise omission from Fabio Capello’s 23-man England World Cup squad.

Darren Bent, Adam Johnson, Scott Parker, Michael Dawson, Leighton Baines and Tom Huddlestone also miss out.

From: BBC

The final squad is:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham).

Defenders: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City).

Forwards: Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

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Sun, May 30th 2010

England v Japan

England 2 - Japan 1

An experimental England rely on 2 own goals as they scrape a victory against Japan.

Sat, May 29th 2010

Capello names team for final warm-up

Capello gives Bent and Huddlestone starts against Japan

What clues are there for England’s South Africa 2010 squad?

Thu, May 27th 2010

Who’s on the plane

The Fan chooses its 22 for South Africa

With one more friendly against Japan before the World Cup, who should Capello take, and who should be staying at home?

Wed, May 19th 2010

Gary Lineker is to stop writing articles for the Mail on Sunday after it published a story he says damaged England’s 2018 World Cup bid.

From: BBC

I’ve not been a fan of Lineker recently, but I respect his decision. The Mail’s Lord Triesman story was a case of the paper making news, rather than it happening. While its hard to have sympathy for Triesman, a secretly taped conversation with a secretary he had been having an affair with hardly the same as publicly claiming two of England’s World Cup hosting rivals were corrupt.

It would have been for Lineker to have keep taking his pay cheque.

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Fri, May 14th 2010

BBC Sport are reporting that Capello might try playing a 3-5-2 formation in England’s opener against the USA.

“Capello has never played such a system with wing-backs in his time as manager, but I understand he will consider a change in formation if Barry doesn’t recover from his injury.

Nooooo….

The alternatives to Barry do seem absent in the preliminary squad: Carrick (who didn’t finish the season especially well) and Scott Parker (untested at this level recently).

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Thu, May 13th 2010

The Italian (Fabio Capello) revealed he tried to persuade Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes to come out of international retirement, but failed.

From: BBC

Not too much surprise here.

Scholes ‘retired’ after he was effectively dropped after the emergence of Lampard and he found himself 4th choice midfielder after Beckham and Gerrard. There’s no doubt he could still have played a role, though, especially after Barry’s injury.

The Fan

England