We at FI already had them down as outsiders but with the news that their one, truly world class player Ashley Cole has broken his ankle, England’s chances of winning the World Cup are practically over.
With doubts over form and fitness in almost every position, age or inexperience, England’s most potent weapon will be at the side of the pitch, not on it. But even a manager as great as Fabio Capello can only work with what he has at his disposal. Sadly, it pales in comparison with the real contenders for the World Cup.
Goalkeeper
We don’t even know who this will be. Perhaps David James if he is playing regularly, though this will be for a relegated team who are likely to also be in administration. They might even be liquidated which means James won’t even have a club to play for. Even if fit, playing and playing at his best, James is still prone to create a chance or two for the opposition. Joe Hart is probably the next best alternative (since Capello has ignored the experienced Paul Robinson). Number of caps? One.
Leftback
With the world’s best in the position out for around three months, it is highly unlikely he will be fit enough to play like it in South Africa. The obvious alternative (i.e. the next English leftback) is Wayne Bridge. Bridge and Terry. Well at least it will be a fun sideshow though how it can have anything other than a negative effect on the team, I don’t know. Alternatives include Leighton Baines (no caps), Stephen Warnock (one cap) and James Milner – a winger/attacking midfielder who is probably going to be needed further up the pitch (see below).
Rightback
Glen Johnson, hewn from a similarly calamitous stone as David James, is currently injured with knee ligament damage. He should be fit enough in time but while he is decent in attack, defensively he is very suspect. But that’s okay because of the quality we have at…
Centrebacks
John Terry. All personal issues aside (which he seems to do himself with apparent ease), John Terry is far from world class when playing for his country. Slow, indecisive and prone to errors (that makes three in the back five) he is the second best we have only because of the twin deaths of Ledley King’s knees and Jonathan Woodgate’s entire body.
Rio Ferdinand. Excellent player, always performs when it counts. Has played six league games this season because of a chronic back problem which followed a bout of bad form. May or may not be fit, may or may not be in form.
The alternatives of Upson and Lescott have both proven themselves to be below international standard. That leaves Michael Dawson then.
Left wing
Much like the goalkeeper, it’s hard to say who will actually play. Joe Cole if he’s fit may though he’s getting little playing time at Ancelotti’s Chelsea. Currently he has a knee injury. Frank Lampard whose performances this season have dipped alarmingly may play on the left. Manchester City’s new signing Adam Johnson might get a chance to shine though he has yet to play for the senior team. Aaron Lennon can play on the left wing, too but…
Right wing
Aaron Lennon is the man in possession and was, until his groin injury, one of the only players to be performing at a world class level. But injured, he is. While he should be back in time and should be in form, too much will be relying on his speedy heels and brilliant first touch. He and a fit Johnson behind him would be our most potent, creative weapons. Alternatives include the excellent Milner, a very, very, very late run by David Bentley and the practically forgotten, Theo Walcott. Oh and David Beckham.
Defensive midfielder
Hobson’s Choice here; Gareth Barry, assuming he’s fit. The glue that has held the England team together for a number of years though more because he plays the position rather than someone who plays the position well. In 2006 we had Owen Hargreaves who was better than Barry at breaking up the play (and whose knees are in a worse condition than Ledley King’s), in 2002 we had Nicky Butt who made the Team of the Tournament. As a defensive midfielder, Barry is not in their class.
Attacking midfielder
Steven Gerrard. Consistently given the position ahead of the more deserving Frank Lampard, time and again Gerrard has failed to make the most of the creative freedom the position affords. I can’t think of a player with greater discrepancy between their club and country form. However this season his club form has dipped as well, possibly signalling the beginning of his decline as an all-action force in midfield.
Support striker
Uhh. Emile Heskey is injured and has been for a lot of the season. Even when fit and in form he still scores only when the moon is blue. As Ron Atkinson once said, “there’s not a lot of demand for non-goalscoring strikers, Clive”. Alternatives; Peter Crouch – in anonymous form for Tottenham but a reasonable performer for his country. Carlton Cole (six caps, no goals) has had injury problems this season and is yet to prove himself, Jermain Defoe (38 caps, 11 goals) will not provide height and with wingers (and Beckham) we lose an attacking dimension. If Heskey is not playing though, Defoe will have to.
Striker
Wayne Rooney. In great form and currently fit. World Cups are not won by a single player however and even though he is very, very good, Rooney cannot carry a team without the rest of it supporting him. Defoe doesn’t support. Lampard, Cole and Gerrard all have big question marks over them. Barry is defensive. The leftback is going to be an unknown, untried. If Lennon is fit, it will be down to him and him alone to support Rooney. Good thing he sorted out that troublesome ‘final ball’ problem then.
In an ideal world, this would be my first eleven:
David James
Glen Johnson – Rio Ferdinand – Ledley King – Ashley Cole
Aaron Lennon – Owen Hargreaves – Frank Lampard – James Milner
Emile Heskey – Wayne Rooney
Could it win the World Cup? Excellent defence, excellent attack from a strong midfield with no player being carried (sorry, Gerrard fans). And a complimentary, experienced attacking partnership. So maybe. Together with the best manager in the world we’d have a chance.
Instead that manager will work with this:
David James (f, p, m)
Glen Johnson (i) – Rio Ferdinand (i) – John Terry (p, m) – Wayne Bridge (f, p, m)
Aaron Lennon (i) – Gareth Barry – Steven Gerrard (p) – Joe Cole (i)
Jermain Defoe – Wayne Rooney
f = questions over form i = injury questions p = perform poorly on the world stage m = questions over mental stabilityYou tell me; can we win it with this? A World Cup with Brazil, Italy and Spain?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Probably THE most pathetic piece of journalism I’ve ever come across. Your reasoning for leaving players out and adding certain players in are laughable.
Firstly, claiming we will lose based on the fact that Ashley Cole is out injured is quite astonishing. He is certainly not our best player on the pitch by a very long distance and it clearly shows you are a Chelsea supporter and know absolutely nothing about football and individual players.
No mention of Green which is clearly Capello’s number one choice now.
Putting Michael Dawson above Upson (who has, apart from one recent game, been in outstanding form since his return from injury) and Lescott is simply astounding.
I’m not going to go on because you have really set a very low standard for this site.
You, are an idiot.
Are you for real????????????? do you know anything about football???????? obviously not, typical doom and gloom journalism (and might i say lazy).
No mention of Green or Hart in goal, and what exactly have upson and lescott done to prove they are not ready (upson has even got himself on the scoresheet already). This is the best squad of players we have had going into a major tournament in years, Capello will leave players at home that feel should have gone and the reason why??? We have bags of quality and unlike Sven he [capello] doesnt have to take people to fill the plane, remember Japan and what a debarkle that was, taking players that were never gonna play!!!!!!!!!
Other nations are not going to have a perfect squad going into the finals, Argentina nearly never even qualified!!!! Englands hardest game will be against the yanks and we should cruise through the group stages, people need to look at fixtures as well as the squad, a easy run of fixtures can be better than a strong squad, all the players with so called ?’s over them will be able to bed into the tournament against Slovenia and Algeria with no top teams to play until the next round.
So lets get a bit more positive about this team and look on the bright side, if we do win the world cup there wont be a certain mr Terry replacing Bobby Moore as the face of englands world cup sucess in the next 50 years!!!!!!!
You muppet!
What’s really laughable is when ‘muppets’ who reply to interesting opinion pieces like this call it ‘lazy journalism’, themselves too lazy to understand what ‘journalism’ actually is.
This is a fair article about England’s chances, with opinions about the quality, or lack thereof, available to Capello. Why the abuse?
Dan, I couldn’t agree with you more. This is why people say that football is a game for hooligans, because some people can not give an independent analysis of the game without any type of slander and abuse involved.
The site is called Football-Intelligence act like you know…