Capello makes his decision
The past few days has seen a number of provisional and even final squads announced for the World Cup, but today two of the most anticipated provisional squads were revealed. England has delivered their 30 provisional players amidst controversy regarding manager Fabio Capello’s involvement in a bizarre form rating website which sports his name. Italy’s squad was well anticipated as many were wondering whether Lippi would go with the old guard or bring in some fresh faces.
England Provisional Squad:
GK: David James, Joe Hart & Rob Green
No surprise in the goal keeper department, although a number of people will be delighted to see Joe Hart in the England squad. Which goalkeeper will take the number one shirt will probably be determined from the warm-up games, although all three of these keepers are now guaranteed to go to South Africa as long as injury does not set in.
DEF: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock
Jamie Carragher’s odd’s on making the squad dropped to 1/25 last night and he is a somewhat surprising call-up considering his determination to stay in international retirement. Although I don’t doubt Carragher’s credentials, this season has been the first time he is starting to show his age a bit, particularly in the FA cup 3rd round replay against Reading where he struggled big time. Dawson will definitely be starting in the warm-up games and will be hopeful his good league form will transfer to the international side. For Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines, there is a direct battle to be on the plane and become England’s second choice left back (what an opportunity!)
MID: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips
Gareth Barry is in the squad, but news is awaited as to whether or not he will actually go to the tournament, and if he doesn’t then Scott Parker and Tom Huddlestone have an ideal opportunity to get themselves on the plane. There’s a lot of competition for the wide places, and Adam Johnson, who started the season out in the Championship with Middlesbrough, now finds himself with a chance to represent his country on the biggest stage of them all. Joe Cole will also be glad to see his name on the team sheet after the season he has had, but he will be closely watched by Capello to see whether he is capable of showing his old form. Owen Hargreaves misses out and it seems like a sensible option with all fairness, mostly due to the fact that he’s only played 30 seconds of football! Paul Scholes is also not included, and it is most likely that he has once again declined the chance to represent.
FWD: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney
Sunderland fans have their calls answered, as in form striker Darren Bent is taken into consideration, but his work is far from over, and you’d feel he would have to produce goals in the warm-up games to stand a chance of getting on the plane. Also, surprise surprise! Wayne Rooney is on the team sheet! Who would have seen that coming? The other four strikers are the ones that were expected to go, but if Bent does get the goals, will Capello drop Defoe or take the five strikers in place of a midfielder or defender? Also, Bobby Zamora appears to have mised out, and it will be interesting to see how he performs in Wednesday’s Europa league final. If he smashes in a few goals, what are we to think then?
Italy Provisional Squad (at the time of writing this, it is a strongly rumoured team sheet that has apparently fallen in the hands of Sky Sports Italia):
Lippi suprises some
GK: Gianluigi Buffon, Federico Marchetti, Morgan De Sanctis, Salvatore Sirigu
Gianluigi Bufffon will guard the goal of his country once again, but the two goalkeepers that will join him appears to be up for grabs, and the young Salvatore Sirigu who Buffon has tipped to be his replacement could get a chance to not only represent his country in the World Cup, but also make his debut should Buffon succumb to injury.
DEF: Salvatore Bocchetti, Leonardo Bonucci, Fabio Cannavaro, Mattia Cassani, Giorgio Chiellini, Domenico Criscito, Fabio Grosso, Christian Maggio, Gianluca Zambrotta.
First thoughts – Wow! Look at how many youngsters will be involved in Italy’s defence this year. Quite surprising to see so many players with less than five caps being considered for the World Cup squad, and although the likes of Zambrotta, Grosso and of course Cannavaro remain, there are a number of youngsters who will be able to get invaluable experience. Whether this tactic will back-fire on Lippi remains to be seen, but it is quite brave to call up so many youngsters, what is even more suprising is the fact that most of them don’t play for Italy’s big guns. Watch out for Giorgio Chiellini if you haven’t seen him play before, a solid defender that could make a huge name for himself this summer.
MID: Mauro Camoranesi, Antonio Candreva, Andrea Cossu, Daniele De Rossi, Gennaro Gattuso, Claudio Marchisio, Ricardo Montolivo, Angelo Palombo, Simone Pepe, Andrea Pirlo.
Another mix of new and old, and this could be the last World Cup for Camoranesi, Pirlo and Gattuso. A number of players have missed out such as Ambrosini, Aquilani, Perrotta and Barone and there a more players who have less than five caps in the side. The battle here would appear to be for central midfield places, and although De Rossi and Pirlo are probably certain to be on the plane, the others seem less certain and Lippi will be keen to see how certain players work together in the middle of the park before making a final decision.
FWD: Marco Borriello, Antonio Di Natale, Alberto Gilardino, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Giampaolo Pazzini, Giuseppe Rossi, Fabio Quagliarella.
Di Natale was in much of the same situation that Darren Bent found himself in, and after missing out on the Confederations cup squad, his good goal scoring form has fired the 32 year old back into the Italian fold. Giuseppe Rossi also has been given the nod after an impressive season in Spain, but the forward berths in the Italian side were certainly the most competitive, and there are a number of players that have missed out. Francesco Totti will not be coming out of international retirement to represent his country, Del Piero’s international time appears to be over, Antonio Cassano remains in exile and Luca Toni’s move to Roma doesn’t appear to have done him many favours in terms of his international hopes. Mario Balotelli also misses out, a decision that was no doubt based on the player’s current problems and drop to the bench.
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I’m not sure if he plays but I think Joe Cole actually goes to South Africa unless he has some average to poor warm ups. He’s just been rounding into form with Chelsea which matches the typical recovery time frame of cruciate ligament damage in the knee and he offers an entirely different fantasista dimension that can change a game in ways that English players usually can’t. Cole, Walcott, Defoe, and Crouch form an intriguing quartet of players with unique attributes that could immediately open games if Capello sees something exploitable.
While certainly expected, Miccoli’s exclusion just looks stupid.
The competition for Italian strikers was amazing, and it appears many havent made the cut, including Miccoli as you mentioned. I don’t really rate Boriello too highly, I know hes got quite a few goals in Serie A this season but hes never realised his potential and not really impressed me when theres been big games to play – and it doesn’t get much bigger than the world cup!
And England have a lot of pace in their side which is great to see, especially on the wings, there are quite a number of people in England complaining about Heskey’s inclusion though which I don’t like to see, as I don’t feel many people appreciate his contribution as a target man that opens up space for Rooney
Heskey works perfectly with Rooney. One can just look at the qualifiers to see why Heskey’s partnership with Rooney makes sense. On top of that you already have a midfield heavy with goals. Ashley Cole offers nice pace and overlapping runs without neglecting the back, Glen Johnson on the other hand is going to do a Dani Alves and not play defence anyway so you’re a lot better off with a more rounded player in Heskey assuming you have a fit Rooney.
Miccoli is the most in form Italian striker. He isn’t going simply because he testified against Lippi’s kin. Strange how Calciopoli probably helped create the bunker mentality for Italy in Germany and now seems to be coming back to haunt them in South Africa. I agree with you on Boriello’s inclusion (his goal count is very deceptive) but I wouldn’t go so far as to say as I don’t rate him. I’d rather have Cassano or Totti though.
Disappointing to see Alex, Pato, and Adriano all left off Brasil’s roster. Why Dani Alves makes it when you already have Maicon is mystifying. Maybe Dani Alves practises Macumba over Dunga or has some big bit of extortion? Maybe he’s a great teller of jokes or something… I don’t get it.
Theres a lot of hate for Heskey because he doesn’t get the goals in England, but he just works so well up front with Rooney, he’s got more strength than Heskey, you often see teams trying to double up on Heskey to cope with him. He’s not the ideal striker but hes very good at his job and has been important to his country for years
with Boriello i suppose i meant more I don’t rate him enough to justify taking him to the world cup, much like you there are a number of other strikers i’d rather take, I don’t think Cassano will ever play for Italy again unfortantley, too much of a troublemaker, as much as I love watching him play.
And I will be writing about the Brazil selection tomorrow. More my outrage at the fact there will be no Ronaldinho in the squad! (Ronnie said its no world cup without him – and hes been in good form) Kleberson and Julio Baptista (who sits on Roma’s bench) some how got in the squad though. And I think you have to take Alves, I agree Maicon should start but if he gets injured Dani Alves isn’t exactly the worst back-up in the world haha
I can’t say Ronaldinho’s absence is a big surprise. He’s playing better now but he has been lost for long stretches over the last couple of years. Still, his absence along with some of the other flashier players is probably a reason to fire up even more hate for Dunga even if they do win. Dunga appears to care little for the ghosts of samba, he wants to win.
Argentina: “Missing are Inter Milan veterans Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti”
It’s Official, L’Equip & Gazetta are both reporting this as Argentina’s squad.
They are also both questioning Maradona’s sanity.
Portieri: Sergio Romero, Mariano Andújar, Diego Pozo.
Difensori: Nicolás Otamendi, Martín Demichelis, Walter Samuel, Gabriel Heinze, Clemente Rodríguez, Nicolás Burdisso, Insaurralde e Fabricio Coloccini.
Centrocampisti: Javier Mascherano, Juan Sebastián Verón, Angel Di María, Mario Bolatti, Javier Pastore, Juan Mercier, José Sosa, e Sebastián Blanco.
Attaccanti: Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Carlos Tevez, Diego Milito, Martín Palermo, Sergio Agüero e Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Maradonna hasn’t called up Cambiasso for one squad, probably the most puzzling decision ever, as I consider him the best holding midfielder in the world at the moment
apparantly martin palermo is gauranteed to go – meaning lavezzi and milito are set to miss out. I can understand needing to cut lavezzi – but diego milito? What a season he’s had! Also Jonas Gutiérrez is not on the above list, and he is one of Maradonna’s supposed 3 names on every starting sheet. Also look at the lack of full backs in defence, hes going to play four centre backs! He’s always worth a laugh Maradonna
So true. Honesty and ervyehting recognized.