England World Cup Squad 2014

[LooneyToonArmy]

Fabio Capello has named Bobby Zamora as one of England's potential stars for the future -despite the uncapped Fulham striker turning 30 in January.

 

During a media grilling, the under-fire England boss picked nine players not at the World Cup who he thinks could help turn around the national team's fortunes.

 

Zamora was one of the players mentioned, along with injury-prone midfielder Owen Hargreaves, who has started just two games for Manchester United in the last two seasons.

 

Also named were Arsenal youngsters Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott, who was the shock omission from the 23-man squad for South Africa.

 

Other players listed wereTottenham defender Michael Dawson, passed over in favour of Jamie Carragher and Matthew Upson at the World Cup, Manchester City's Adam Johnson and Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor.

 

“Adam Johnson is one. Another is Kieran Gibbs, the Arsenal left-back," said Capello.

 

"Also Dawson. He is not young but he is back. Also we have Agbonlahor and Zamora. Another player I hope will be fit is Hargreaves.

 

"Walcott - I hope he can play and recovers, and his back and shoulder will be okay. Wilshere is another interesting player, another good player who we are looking for."

 

The FA have announced they will take two weeks to decide on the England future of Capello.

[ElDiablo]

Zamora.

[Skeletor]

[mrmojorisin75]

he's the man to lead us onwards and upwards then i see...fucking hell 

[Dave]

The squad for the next match/tournament is going to be exactly the fucking same isn't it.

[Fugazi]

I will wear and then eat my hat if Walcott ever becomes a good player.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2313556732_13eba22f03.jpg

[Disco]

The squad for the next match/tournament is going to be exactly the fucking same isn't it.

 

Nah, Beckham will be fit won't he? 

[Thespence]

After an ageing England faltered in South Africa, major changes are expected in the national team.

 

Here's how the England squad might look if we are lucky enough to qualify for the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

 

For the formation, I'm going with 4-2-3-1 - more as a means to accomodate Jack Wilshere than anything.

 

I've worked on the basis that these shake-ups are never quite as revolutionary as you expect. Capello might have promised new faces, but you can bet your life Terry, Gerrard and Lampard are involved in the Euro 2012 campaign - and I've got one of them starting in 2014.

 

Goalkeeper: Joe Hart (Age 27)

This is probably not as much of a shoo-in as everybody thinks, but you still have to pencil him in. Hart was undoubtedly England's best keeper last season and is still just 22. However, four years is a lifetime in football, especially if you are an England goalkeeper. How many keepers have been anointed David Seaman's long-term successor since 2002? Paul Robinson, Chris Kirkland, Scott Carson, Ben Foster and Robert Green have all failed to nail down a place. Worry less about the chance he won't play much club football this season, and more about the chance he could chuck the ball into his own net between now and 2014.

 

Right-back: Glen Johnson (Age 29)

Unless you a particular admirer of Kyle Naughton's talents, or believe Micah Richards will finally learn where to stand on a football pitch, the cupboard looks bare at right-back for England. Glen Johnson is so clearly England's best player in this position that the designated back-up at the World Cup was Jamie Carragher, while some people argued for the inclusion of Owen Hargreaves, who had just played one minute out of an entire season, because of his ability to slot in at the position.

 

Centre-back: Jack Rodwell (Age 23, pictured)

Rodwell has played most of his football in midfield, but there is a school of thought that he will step back into central defence as Rio Ferdinand did. I'm not usualy a big fan of players changing position part-way through their career, but given England's shocking lack of talented centre-backs, particularly those who can pass the ball, it seems a necessity for England.

 

 

Centre-back: Michael Dawson (Age 30)

The no-nonsense foil to the ball-playing Rodwell. To use an unrealistically optimistic comparison, Dawson can be Puyol to Rodwell's Pique. I'm not saying Dawson's a brilliant player, but I simply cannot think of anyone better. Barring the miniscule chance John Terry's ego makes it as far as 2014 without alienating everyone in the English game, Dawson looks like the best bet. Don't give me Mancienne, Tomkins or Smalling.

 

Left-back: Ashley Cole (Age 33)

Look, I know we're all supposed to love Kieran Gibbs, but the U21 man is better going forward than defending, and will have to move clubs to get a regular game, as Gael Clichy is in his way at Arsenal. Cole is England's most consistent performer of the last decade and will be 33 at the next World Cup. He'll be our Gio van Bronckhorst.

 

Central midfield: Frank Lampard (Age 35)

It's a stretch, I know. Lampard will be ancient when the next World Cup comes around, but he has the best chance of any of the current crop of veterans of sticking in the team. John Terry is damaged goods, Rio Ferdinand too injury prone, Steven Gerrard too reliant on bursts of dynamism. Lampard has never had any pace, and his quality lies in his unfussy passing and his ability always to be in the right place at the right time. You might call him a midfield Teddy Sheringham, or even an English Lothar Matthaeus. Only not as good.

 

Central midfield: Fabrice Muamba (Age 26)

Not the most glamorous selection in central midfield, but that's precisely why Muamba might just work. It feels like he has been around forever, but he is still just 22, and was named Bolton's player of the season. So he's better than Kevin Davies. It is impossible to describe the former Arsenal youngster's physique without using the word 'Vieira', he is strong, disciplined and increasingly authoritative on the ball. I like him. But then I used to like Carlton Palmer.

 

Right wing: Theo Walcott (Age 25)

The fashionable pick here is Adam Johnson, who comfortably outshone Walcott over the second half of the 2009/10 season. But Johnson has not been good for long enough to rule out looking back at this in a few years and thinking: "Remember when we all thought Adam Johnson was the next big thing." Like in 1998 when Michael Bridges was everybody's pick to succeed Alan Shearer. But there was something in Lionel Messi's incredulity that Walcott was left out of the squad for South Africa. He might be inconsistent, but he scares the wits out of opponents, and given a flying wing role he can express himself fully. Mainly by running really fast.

 

Attacking midfielder: Jack Wilshere (Age 22)

Either this boy will get crushed under the unrealistic weight of expectation, or he will prove a player of real international class. Let's be positive and opt for the latter. There were calls for him to go to South Africa after half a decent season at Bolton, but Wilshere needs time to mature instead of getting chucked in a la Walcott. Technically, he is the best English midfielder since you-know-who, he just needs a regular run in an Arsenal side chock-full of diminutive attacking midfielders.

 

Left wing: Ashley Young (Age 28)

After 150 years of football, 2010 was the year when we finally accepted that wingers are better playing on the opposite side to their dominant foot. Unless Englishmen have learned to kick with both feet by 2014, which they won't have, I fancy Young to make the step up. He never quite excelled when given is chance by Capello, and sometimes his touch can be a little ragged. But he is a superb counter-attacker and the closest thing we have to a Podolski/Mueller-style attacking midfielder.

 

Striker: Wayne Rooney (Age 28)

Rooney is simply too good not to stay the course with England, and as soon as he starts banging the goals in again for Manchester United this World Cup will seem like nothing more than an (exceptionally frustrating) aberration. He's playing right up front simply because of the lack of viable alternatives. Better hope Danny Sturridge, Andy Carroll or Nathan Delfouneso comes good.

 

The rest of the squad:

GK Robert Green (34)

GK Ben Foster (31)

DF Micah Richards (25)

DF Phil Jones (22)

DF Joe Mattock (24)

MF James Milner (28)

MF Tom Huddlestone (27)

MF Adam Johnson (26)

MF Aaron Lennon (27)

FW Gabriel Agbonlahor (27)

FW Danny Sturridge (24)

FW Andy Carroll (25)

 

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/world-cup/armchair-pundit/article/5969/

[OzzieMandias]

All the usual mistakes: trying to fit the system to the players rather than the other way around, relying on players out of position, picking players because of their reputation rather than their performance -- Lampard? At 35? So he can have his third crap World Cup in a row?

[Ronaldo]

Fit the system to the players?

 

The system in this World Cup was anything but fit to the players.

[dcmk]

Well that's not true, having our best midfielder play on the left of midfield isn't exactly ideal.

[OzzieMandias]

Fit the system to the players?

 

The system in this World Cup was anything but fit to the players.

 

Sorry, I must have imagined the last few England managers knobbing around with formations to try and cram Gerrard and Lampard into the same midfield.

[Ronaldo]

4-4-2 suits neither one of them, or Rooney.

[OzzieMandias]

My point was clear. And you're too boring to argue with.

[mrmojorisin75]

4-4-2 suits neither one of them, or Rooney.

are you alright?

 

mandias is saying that manager after manager has tried to find a formation to accommodate gerrard & lampard, a system to fit the players as opposed to the reverse

[Ronaldo]

Capello has admitted time after time that he plays 4-4-2. Had he adapted his way of thinking to suit the players we might have got past the second round.

 

Our best 3 attacking players just don't suit 4-4-2. To suggest 'trying to fit the system to the players' was the problem is pretty ignorant.

[mrmojorisin75]

Capello has admitted time after time that he plays 4-4-2. Had he adapted his way of thinking to suit the players we might have got past the second round.

 

Our best 3 attacking players just don't suit 4-4-2. To suggest 'trying to fit the system to the players' was the problem is pretty ignorant.

OK then, enlighten me.  What was the problem 'cause most everyone else agrees that trying to crowbar Gerrard & Lampard into the same midfield was suicide.

[Ronaldo]

I just told you the problem, those players don't suit 4-4-2.

[mrmojorisin75]

I just told you the problem, those players don't suit 4-4-2.

wow

[Southerner]

Well come on he's right, we needed to control the midfield and let our faster/smarter players pull channels and opening with thier nous. The second we lost the midfield battle ( which was always a possibility with Gerrard playing out of position for 30% of the game ) we lost confidence and were run upon.  4-5-1 with no heskey.

 

Like to see Johnson and Carrol really step up thier game over the next two years and see how they cope with the pressure of playing in the Euros.

[Rob W]

Really struggled with this one.

 

GK

 

Joe Hart - 27

Fraser Forster (Toon) - 26

Jason Steele (Boro) - 23

 

DEF

 

RB - Glenn Johnson - 29

RB/RM - Dan Gosling - 24

RB/CB - Micah Richards - 25

CB - John Terry - 34

CB - James Tomkins - 25

LB - Ashley Cole - 34

LB - Kieran Gibbs - 24

 

MID

 

RM - Aaron Lennon - 27

RM/CM - Jordan Henderson (Scum) - 24

RM/CM/LM - James Milner - 28

DM/CB - Jack Rodwell - 23

DM/CB - Jack Cork - 24

DM/CM - Lee Cattermole - 26

CM - Danny Guthrie - 27

AM - Jack Wilshire - 22

LM - Adam Johnson - 26

 

ATT

 

Andy Carroll - 25

Wayne Rooney - 28

Theo Walcott - 25

James Vaughan - 25

 

23/23

 

nice choice

[TheGuv]

Does Forster have the potential do you reckon to get England caps?

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

Does Forster have the potential do you reckon to get England caps?

 

I think its more the case of there won't be much better around to choose from. Not knocking Forster, as he does seem to be becoming a great keeper, but there's not really a lot of GKs knocking the door down to get into the England squad at the moment. As most have mentioned though, a lot can change in 4 years time.

[Dr.Spaceman]

Some Norwich fans think he's better than fucking Buffon the way they go on.

[Guest GallowgateKev]

Lets just start searching allover europe and the world for players that arent english but have granparents and all that malarky which will qual them to be england players...

 

Afterall thats what the germans have done!