England manager Fabio Capello has announced his final 23 players for the World Cup. The squad is as follows....
Goalkeepers.... Robert Green, David James, Joe Hart.
Defenders........John Terry, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Ledley King, Glen Johnson, Stephen Warnock.
Midfield.............Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Carrick.
Strikers.............Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey.
The choice of some players has inevitably caused some debate as you would expect. The goalkeepers pick themselves, no surprises there. A few eyebrows have been raised with the selection of Stephen Warnock who is relatively inexperienced at international level and never featured in the recent warm up games. Joe Cole had to be included as he gives England a few options. Theo Walcott will be very disappointed to be ignored but Shaun Wright-Phillips has been the most consistent winger over the last six months or so. Capello did say he would only name players who are 100% fit yet has included Gareth Barry. No surprises in the strikers. He has named four but in truth its really Wayne Rooney(if fit) plus one. So we have the squad and we have England's first game against the USA on Saturday June 12th. Whoever gets picked for that game the country will be behind the players and indeed the manager. Come on England!
