It is a sign of the genuine expectations of England for its national side that each time an Englishman takes the field for a Premiership match there is an immediate eye on that England squad for South Africa 2010. The truth is that Capello will already know the majority of his squad and certainly his preferred starting eleven and it will in reality mirror the squad throughout the qualifiers.
We will take a position by position look at Capello’s previous squads and also some outside options. It seems natural to begin with the goalkeepers and even more so with England as it is considered the problem position. Here is a list of all goalkeepers selected in each Capello squad:
David James
Robert Green
Joe Hart
Paul Robinson
Chris Kirkland
Ben Foster
Scott Carson
Joseph Lewis
The first six names play their football in the Premiership, and the first five are the first choice for their club. Scott Carson is playing football in the Championship for West Brom and Joe Lewis is playing for Peterborough United also in the Championship.
We have mentioned previously on this website that David James has played the most minutes in goal for England during the qualifiers and seems a certainty for the England squad. This paired with the fact that Robert Green has been named in the last seven England squads means that we can assume (fitness pending) that there is only one more place for a goalkeeper in the England squad.
The old debate of whether to bring two or three goalkeepers in a squad of 23 seems to have died and I fully expect each nation to bring three goalkeepers, so who will the final man be?
If we take a look at the teams that the above men play for, Birmingham are the most in form team and this gives Joe Hart the immediate edge. His youth will fit in well with the experience of James and Green too and it will be a good signal to the Under-21 system.
It is hard to see a keeper who is third choice for his club being third choice for country, which is why I would rule out Foster. A similar argument of not playing enough football at the top level would seem to rule out Carson and Lewis, but if Capello was looking into the second tier then I would give an outside chance to Newcastle’s Steve Harper.
So we are left with Robinson and Kirkland, two goalkeepers who earn their penny with Blackburn and Wigan respectively. Both are good shot stoppers but seem to make mistakes far too often for comfort. This is the problem with the English goalkeepers available, where as James and Green tend to make few mistakes for their clubs they do make mistakes for England. Kirkland and Robinson do make mistakes for their club and unless they can provide this consistency they shouldn’t be at the World Cup.
There is one outsider who does fit Capello’s mould, playing regular football at the highest level of competition for a top team. The Arsenal goalkeeper Almunia is eligible for England, and last year he was playing at a level above the English goalkeepers available. The debate of a Spanish footballer playing for England seemed to divide football fans, but with his form this season being average at best the debate now seems redundant.
It is an obvious point that fitness and form will determine the final decision but based on the facts so far, James and Green are certainties for the squad and with the final place up for grabs it seems that Joe Hart is the man most hungry and capable.
