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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Reflections on the England Squad

I suppose I really should have an opinion on yesterday's England world cup squad announcement. Frankly, though, there's been too much written about it already, so I'll do what most bloggers do (and what I hate to do) and that is: comment on the commentary on the story.

Firstly, there's been a lot of complaining among the media because the FA delayed the official announcement until 4pm GMT. By this time, of course, every one who was paying attention already knew who was in or out of the squad.

I have some sympathy with this viewpoint. If - and I'm just speculating here - Capello let the 7 players he was dropping know by, say, 9 am; then there was no reason for the FA not to announce the final 23 by 10 am at the latest. That would save all the tiresome gossip, Twitter b*******t and so forth.

Secondly, regarding the squad itself.

There seemed to be a lot of early consternation that Darren Bent wasn't included. I've no idea why, but facile comparisons between him and Emile Heskey indicate a complete lack of understanding that football is a team game.

Thirdly: Theo Walcott. Yup, Walcott's exclusion was a surprise, particularly as Shaun Wright-Phillips appears to have been the beneficiary. For my money, that's like cutting the heads off two chickens and claiming that the one that doesn't run in a completely straight line is superior.

Fourthly: I just don't really care. Capello has picked his squad. Some players made it; others didn't. The end.

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posted by mark_s at 5:40 PM

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