England squad for Ukraine and Belarus (10th and 14th October 2009)
You can watch England v Ukraine live online here.
Capello chose to leave Darren Bent – currently the top English scorer in the Premier League – out of his England squad for the final two World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine (away) and Belarus (home).
Ben Foster misses out through an unspecified injury, while Walcott was deemed unfit despite recently returning from injury for Arsenal. Jermain Defoe also misses out through a hand injury, with Gabriel Agbonlahor and David James returning to the squad.
England have a 100% record in World Cup qualifiers and have already booked their place in the finals in South Africa in 2010. However, Capello intends to start each game with the best possible team and then make changes in the second half to give his fringe players game time.
Capello: “They are not friendly games, they are not experimental games. We have to continue what we have done in qualification.”
The squad may change if any of the players picked from Aston Villa and Manchester City pick up injuries in today’s game.
England play Ukraine on 10th October before taking on Belarus on the 14th. Selection is bound to be straightforward with only one or two questions – would James start or will Green continue as England #1, and whether Carrick will get a chance ahead of Barry against Ukraine or Belarus.
England squad for World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Belarus:
Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson (Blackburn), Robert Green (West Ham), David James (Portsmouth)
Defenders: Ashley Cole (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Wayne Bridge (Manchester City), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Matthew Upson (West Ham)
Midfielders: James Milner (Aston Villa), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham)
Strikers: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
You can watch England v Ukraine live online here.
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I am still missing the logic of leaving out Bent. I am not a Sunderland or Bent fan (especially not after the 5-2 debacle against my beloved team two weeks ago)but you can’t deny his talent.
October 5th, 2009 @ 23:04I may be biased as a Sunderland fan, but leaving Darren Bent out after the form he has shown so far this season is madness. Especially when he’s included Emile Heskey and Peter Crouch, who between them have scored 1 goal this season compared with Darrens 7(Peter Crouch)!!!!!!!! Had Fernando Torres been English do you think he’d have made the team, with his one goal more?????
October 5th, 2009 @ 23:17It just goes to show its who you know and not what you do that counts with the England manager!!!
I’m not a Spurs fan, but will be great to see Aaron Lennon get another couple of runouts in an England shirt.
Will be fantastic if we go to World Cup 2010 with two pacy options on the right wing in Lennon and Walcott. I can almost smell the tabloid debate over who should start already.
October 6th, 2009 @ 05:25I’m from Scotland and I can’t understand why Bent isn’t at the very least in the squad. Capello said from the start that he doesnt pick players on sentiment but on form only.
Bent is the most in form English striker around at the moment so why is he not picked ahead of crouch or heskey which just amazes me how those guys are in the squad.
October 6th, 2009 @ 09:11I heard that you can only watch the football online as Sentana collasped does this mean we can watch it on Sky Player or is it only specialised sites??
October 6th, 2009 @ 13:29Was just reading about the late swap of Robinson/Lescott for Hart/Cahill which should be good. I really rate both of them.
But, the really confusing point is the midfield selection. He’s included 4 central midfielders and then 4 who play almost exclusively on the right side (Milner, Beckham, Lennon, Wright-Phillips). What kind of balanced midfield does he hope to put out with no real left-side? I assume it’ll be Barry or Gerrard, but why not bring in Ashley Young and finally give him a decent chance for England?
October 6th, 2009 @ 18:16I think that Capello knows what he is doing, but I don’t like to see Crouch instead Bent, for example.
October 7th, 2009 @ 08:11Why does’t Capello choose Ashley Young? He had a superb game against Manchester City.
October 7th, 2009 @ 18:28