[Blade]

v


I expect nothing less that a convincing victory on home soil if we are to believe
this England team is on the up. The performance against Croatia in the last
game was fantastic and we need to carry on that winning mentality throughout
the qualifying campaign.

England given Rooney injury boost

All match discussion in here please.

[haggler]

Should win this in a canter but how many times have we struggled against teams we should batter ?

I hope press dont put too much pressure on walcott as he is still very inconsistant for arsenal , so to expect a repeat of last game would be daft imo .

I also hope heskey stays fit and is picked as he does seem to do all the donkey work that lets others shine .

I do not think its coincidence that all our best performances over recent years come when he plays .

i think in 6 years time england will be the best side in the world .

Many will laugh at that but the crop of youngsters at arsenal and villa allied with a more mature rooney and walcott are going to rule the world .

Wenger has at last got a bunch of english kids with talent and agbonlahour young etc etc can only get better .

The futures bright -- the futures white --- another star is coming to that shirt mark my words

[piazza]

You will never get this, you will never get this, la la la la la.

Seriously though, not even England could bottle this one.

[SALFORD RED]

Owen fails to make England squad

England manager Fabio Capello has left Michael Owen out of his 23-man squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Owen, 28, was not included in the squad for September's wins over Andorra and Croatia following injury and illness.

But the striker has played in all of Newcastle's six games since then and has scored five goals this season.

Joe Cole is out with a foot injury but Steven Gerrard returns and Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips earn recalls.

Jimmy Bullard and David Bentley make way for Gerrard and Wright-Phillips, who have been in fine form for Liverpool and Manchester City respectively.

"It is just reward for an outstanding start Shaun has made to the resumption of his City career," said Manchester City manager Mark Hughes.

"He's a great guy who works extremely hard for his team-mates and his work ethic is without question. Mr Capello has recognized those qualities and that's why he is back in."

Scott Carson replaces the injured Paul Robinson as Capello's third-choice goalkeeper, while David Beckham retains his place and Wayne Rooney has proved his fitness after an ankle injury.

Theo Walcott and Emile Heskey, both of whom impressed against Andorra and Croatia, also held onto their spots.

With two victories from their opening two Group Six matches, England play Kazakhstan at 1715 BST on Saturday 11 October in front of what is expected to be a record international crowd at the new Wembley.

Capello's men then face Belarus in Minsk on Wednesday 15 October at 1930 BST.

Owen's omission will raise questions about his international future under the Italian manager.

The striker's only appearance during Capello's reign came as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat by France in March.

Despite Owen's record of 40 goals in 89 international appearances, Capello suggested on Saturday that he was looking for more than just goals.

"Is he in good form now?" said Capello, whose assistant Franco Baldini was at Goodison Park on Sunday to assess Owen against Everton. "He's scoring but it's not enough to score goals.

"Sometimes I see games where a player has not played for 89 minutes and then scores a goal. It's not enough. Goals are very important but not only goals.

"I have to decide on 23 players. I do not decide out of sympathy or because I like or dislike players. I decide on who I think is the best player at the moment."

Ashley Young had been tipped to make the squad but Capello watched the Aston Villa winger at Chelsea on Sunday and he was not included.

Rooney produced an impressive display at Blackburn on Saturday, scoring the second goal in Manchester United's 2-0 win.


The forward picked up his knock in Tuesday's Champions League win at Aalborg but was able to play 77 minutes against Rovers on Saturday before being substituted.

"That was his (Rooney's) best performance of the season for us," said United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

Rooney said of his ankle: "It's been a bit weak for a couple of weeks and I've not trained as much as I'd like but I just need to be careful."

It is only six weeks since Capello's side were booed off after the 2-2 friendly draw with the Czech Republic at Wembley and they laboured to a 2-0 World Cup win against Andorra in September.

But the 4-1 win in Croatia, inspired by Walcott's hat-trick, has seen the fans flock back for the game against Kazakhstan.

The match is a sell-out, with 90,000 fans expected at Wembley for England's last home game of the year.

"We now have six points and we have to play every game like a final," said Capello. "Against Kazakhstan and against Belarus - you must focus every game.

"This is my philosophy, my vision of football. It is important to win but you have to focus for the next game, not on what we did (against Croatia)."

England play a friendly against Germany in Berlin on 19 November, but they do not then have another game scheduled until the end of March.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

England squad: James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham), Carson (West Brom); Brown (Manchester United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Lescott (Everton), Upson (West Ham), A Cole (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea); Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Walcott (Arsenal), Barry (Aston Villa), Jenas (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Downing (Middlesbrough), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City); Heskey (Wigan), Crouch (Portsmouth), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Portsmouth).


source BBC Sports.

.

[owenrooneyruud]

this squad he has chosen is great but wanted to see agbonlahor and young in the squad.. they deserve it

[reddwarf]

I'm actually looking forward to the England game, which makes a nice change. I'm confident we'll win confortably although I am surprised by the omission of Ashley Young and Michael Owen from the squad.

[scottsati]

an goin down to watch this one at wembley ...so expecting a few goals- at least...or my money back

[scottsati]

think this will be the team, not necessarily my choice but still......


------------------------------------james-----------------------------

------------------brown-----ferdinand--------terry-----------cole-----
--------------walcott-----------lampard---------barry-------gerrard----
---------------------------rooney--------heskey----------------------

[haggler]

Originally Posted by scottsati

think this will be the team, not necessarily my choice but still......


------------------------------------james-----------------------------

------------------brown-----ferdinand--------terry-----------cole-----
--------------walcott-----------lampard---------barry-------gerrard----
---------------------------rooney--------heskey----------------------

i reckon other than upson for terry that -that will be the starting line up . all the papers suggest a 4-3-3 to free rooney for his rampage . hope you get lots of goals but i fear they wont come till late due to borats picking youth team . could be the formation to finally get gerrard and lampard gelling , though time will tell .

[antdevil78]

not very patriotic but i aint gonna watch eleven of the world's best players on paper work away to get a 2-0 win over a pub side. Its embarrasing.

These teams should be getting dissected by England yet we always look so pathetic.