A new Capello/England Era: Flops axed ; Youngsters called in
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England's World Cup flops pay the price as Fabio Capello wields axe for Hungary friendly
Fabio Capello has signalled the end of an era for a generation of England players by axing almost half the World Cup squad who performed so abysmally in South Africa.
Arsenal youngsters Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, along with Aston Villa's Ashley Young and Manchester City's Adam Johnson, have been brought into the squad for this week's friendly against Hungary, along with Fulham's Bobby Zamora.
In all, 13 players originally selected for the World Cup have been excluded and although the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Jermain Defoe are missing through injury, Robert Green has been punished for his calamitous performance against the USA and Matthew Upson for his equally abject display against Germany.
In: Jack Wilshere has been called up to the England squad to face Hungary
David James has been dropped and Jamie Carragher, Michael Carrick and Ledley King also do not feature.
World Cup wingers Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips have also been ejected, while Theo Walcott, surprisingly dropped for the World Cup, is back.
Darren Bent returns while Zamora, who would have featured in South Africa had it not been for an achilles operation, is likely to be given his England debut on Wednesday night and replace Emile Heskey, who has retired from international football.
Out: World Cup flop Robert Green has been dropped by Capello
Peter Crouch, who was barely used in South Africa, is also out, with Capello having seemingly given up on the Spurs striker.
Steven Warnock, who was a last-minute addition for South Africa, is replaced by Gibbs. Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill, Wes Brown and Carlton Cole, all called up previously but untainted by the South Africa debacle, are recalled and Michael Dawson, who replaced the injured Ferdinand in the World Cup, is retained.
Capello has not informed the players he has dropped, even though for the likes of Green and Wright-Phillips it is likely to spell the end of their international careers. However, he is likely to make calls next week to thank dropped players for their service.
'I just arrived back at work three days ago and I have had to choose the players for the squad,' he said. 'After this I will ring these players and thank them for what they did for us.'
Young Gun: Gibbs has won his first call-up to the full England squad
Capello has used his first squad since the dreadful South African performances to attempt to draw a line under the past and look forward.
Gibbs and Wilshere are the most eye-catching selections and both are expected to play key roles as England bid to qualify for Euro 2012.
Gibbs, 20, celebrated his elevation to the squad with a wonderful strike for Arsenal in their 6-5 pre-season friendly win against Legia Warsaw, a game in which Wilshere also played.
Capello said: 'I know these two players, we have always been following them and they played very well in the Emirates Cup for Arsenal.'
England squad to face Hungary:
Goalkeepers: Ben Foster, Joe Hart, Paul Robinson
Defenders: Wes Brown, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Kieran Gibbs, Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, John Terry
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Ashley Young, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere
Forwards: Darren Bent, Carlton Cole, Wayne Rooney, Bobby Zamora
Despite the friendly coming just three days before the start of the Premier League season, Capello has called up the majority of his star names, including Wayne Rooney and John Terry, because he wants to begin to rebuild team spirit before the qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland in early September.
Capello said: 'This game arrives too early. Some players are good at this moment, some are not because they only started to train 10 days ago. It will be an interesting game, but the date isn't good. But I think you need to bring together the group again, including the senior players, because the first qualification game is on September 1.'
Capello will use the squad sessions this week to canvass the senior players on their thoughts as to what went wrong in South Africa, where England only managed to win one game and recorded their heaviest World Cup defeat in losing 4-1 to Germany.
It was just such an exchange of views that those same England players requested following the awful 0-0 draw with Algeria, a meeting John Terry then publicly advocated.
But following the adverse reaction to Terry's call, the planned team meeting became a muted affair, with no real input from players. Now it seems Capello wants his players to speak up in a bid to rebuild the team.
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Why BARRY?!
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I don't get why Stephen Warnock and Jermaine Defoe kena dropped.
Defoe scored a goal in WC, Stephen Warnock never even got the chance to show his abilities.
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Originally posted by Y_Shun:
I don't get why Stephen Warnock and Jermaine Defoe kena dropped.
Defoe scored a goal in WC, Stephen Warnock never even got the chance to show his abilities.
mistake by capello. -
i guess i know the reason why Capello dropped his senior players, its simple..
(1) new EPL season is coming
(2) gaffers like Harry & players like Lampard voiced their "unhappiness"
(3) for this friendly game, he can easily ignore players ego-ness
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Originally posted by Y_Shun:
I don't get why Stephen Warnock and Jermaine Defoe kena dropped.
Defoe scored a goal in WC, Stephen Warnock never even got the chance to show his abilities.
i seriously believe tat there is this "players ego-ness" in e team..as u can see, no matter how those usual/senior players play badly..
they will still been selected for their country..
every competitive England games, those high-profile players are sure to be in the 1st-11..
unlike other countries tat will drop its under-performing players, be it senior/junior..
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Paul Robinson out
Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson has announced his retirement from international football after having been handed a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for Wednesday's friendly against Hungary.Robinson, 30, made his international debut in 2003 and became first-choice during the 2006 World Cup, but he was widely blamed for England's defeat against Croatia in qualification for Euro 2008 and he was later dropped by then England boss Steve McClaren.
Capello called Robinson into his squad last year for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra, but he was unable to force his way into the side and was left out of the squad for South Africa in favour of David James, Robert Green and Joe Hart.
On Saturday night, Capello handed Robinson a recall for next week's friendly match, but the former Leeds and Tottenham 'keeper has taken the opportunity to announce that he has no interest in being a squad player for his country.
In a statement, he said: "I have taken the decision to retire from international football with immediate effect. Only now have I been able to make this decision because previously I have not been in contention or selected for the squad.
"As a professional who wants to play every time I have the chance, I don't see myself as a number three or four keeper and find that role very frustrating. I haven't had the opportunity of anything other than this in recent years.
"Therefore, I feel it's in the best interests of myself and my club, Blackburn Rovers, to concentrate solely on my club football. I wish the England team every success."
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce said in May that there was no logical explanation for Robinson's omission from the World Cup squad.
"I am staggered, totally," Allardyce said. "It is completely the wrong decision. If you look at Paul's form for Rovers, there has not been a better goalkeeper who has been so consistent.
"It clearly can't be anything else other than Fabio has something else against him, because he has always said the people in form would get selected.
"There is nobody better than Paul Robinson at the moment, so there must be something before that that has happened to put him [Capello] off him as a person and not as a goalkeeper. He has made the biggest mistake of his selection process, has Fabio. As much as I respect him for what he has done that is one big, big mistake."
The FA has said Capello will not call up a replacement for Robinson, leaving Hart and Ben Foster battling for the chance to face Hungary.
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no defoe?
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defoe haven't done much other than scoring a goal in the wc...
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I hope we don't have to deal with the Gerrard / Lampard issue ever again...
Will it come back at Euro 2012? Lets hope not.
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Originally posted by zocoss:
I hope we don't have to deal with the Gerrard / Lampard issue ever again...
Will it come back at Euro 2012? Lets hope not.
i guess this issue will definity resurface again, haha..
as every ENG gaffer is very timid to change its game play, maybe due to huge pressure from their media, i guess..
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never drop lampard and gerrard and terry...forever failure la. fuck this england team.