England squad

[Jusoda Kid 1]

Is Owen not going to be fit in 3 weeks time either?

Capello doesn't rate him.

 

 

Good, he might retire.

[Park Life 70]

Cappello basically wants one highly mobile striker (Rooney).

 

Owen's Einglhan days are numbered.

[Rob W 0]

shurely that England squad is a joke??????

 

God help us if we go with that lot into the qualifiers..................................

[Happy Face 29]

Harper is better than at least 2 of those Keepers.

 

Is Owen not going to be fit in 3 weeks time either?

 

Totally agree about Harper, he's twice the keeper Robinson is, as for Owen, I don't think it would do him, or us, any harm by missing this one.

 

http://www.setantasports.com/Templates/New...e.aspx?id=55549

 

Joe Hart showing why he's higher than Harper in the pecking order.

[Happy Face 29]

Darren Bent limped out of training on Tuesday ahead of England's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley.

 

Striker Bent, 25, who came in for the injured Emile Heskey, lasted only five minutes of training but it is not known how serious the problem is.

 

Peter Crouch is set to partner Wayne Rooney in attack on Wednesday after recovering from a dead leg suffered in Saturday's 4-0 victory over Slovakia.

 

Rio Ferdinand is expected to be fit to partner John Terry in defence.

 

Ferdinand could have played against Slovakia but England coach Fabio Capello decided not to risk the Manchester United defender, while Shaun Wright-Phillips is also available after a minor ankle knock.

 

Crouch may start against Ukraine after Heskey pulled out because of a hamstring injury.

 

Alternatively, Capello may opt to play Rooney as a lone forward, with Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard in close support.

 

Rooney goes into the game on the back of winning the England player of the year fans' award for 2008 and will collect his 50th cap against Ukraine.

 

Tottenham forward Bent, who was called up to the squad as a replacement for Heskey late on Saturday, was likely to be among the substitutes and his fitness will now be assessed by England's medical staff.

 

Bent has won four caps for England and was part of the team that won in Germany last November.

 

But Carlton Cole, who replaced Heskey after 15 minutes on Saturday but lasted only 20 himself, is definitely out with a thigh problem.

 

Ukraine, who are unbeaten in their three Group Six qualifiers to date, are expected to include former Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko in attack.

 

Shevchenko, 32, has only started two Serie A matches for AC Milan this season but is determined to make a mark in his first Wembley appearance.

 

"This is a big game for us and I dream of scoring at Wembley because it would be my 40th goal with the national team," he said.

 

"The national team gives me an opportunity to do what I love doing, which is to play football. But for the national team coach it is not easy to put a player on the pitch who isn't playing."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/i...als/7973880.stm

 

Could be a laugh if Rooney and/or Crouch get done in early on.

[Happy Face 29]

No sooner had Darren Bent limped out of this morning’s England training session at London Colney – in full view of the television cameras – than talk among the watching reporters moved back, as it so often does, to Michael Owen.

 

According to some, Bent’s injury – with Emile Heskey, Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole and Theo Walcott already missing from the squad – demonstrated the stupidity of Fabio Capello’s refusal to call up Michael Owen. For all the recognition of what Capello has achieved with the national team over the past 13 months, there remains a widespread disapproval of his stance over Owen.

 

But look at the facts, as Rafa Benitez would say. Since suffering an ankle injury in Newcastle United’s match against Manchester City on January 28, Owen has played 98 minutes of football. For Newcastle’s last match, at home to Arsenal ten days ago, he was a substitute, with Peter Lovenkrands preferred by Chris Hughton, the caretaker-manager.

 

Owen is not fit. And while there is a strong suspicion that he would not be in Capello’s squad even if he was playing regularly and well for Newcastle, that should be as far as the debate goes in this instance.

 

Even if a bout of food poisoning were to sweep the England hotel tonight, forcing Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch to drop out of the squad, it would not alter Capello’s perception that Owen is not fit and therefore not under consideration for tomorrow’s match against Ukraine. And Capello is right, even if, particularly with hindsight, he might have been well-served by calling up a second striker, in addition to Bent, after losing Heskey and Cole to injury at the weekend.

 

Owen is getting a terribly raw deal at the moment, whether with regard to injuries or an apparently growing backlash against him. Ian Wright, the former England forward, claimed this morning that Owen’s career is “going down the pan” and that it is time for him to choose between football and his well-known love of horseracing.

 

That sounds like nonsense to me. Wright, whatever his talent as a footballer, has proved himself to be a less than perceptive and objective observer in his subsequent career as a television and newspaper pundit. I agree that Owen’s career is spiralling away from him, but to ascribe that to his love of horseracing is bizarre. As Wright should know, having been a former team-mate of Tony Adams and Paul Merson, there are plenty of worse vices for a footballer to have.

 

But Owen does need to knuckle down, to get fit and to start proving that he still has the sharpness that seemed destined to make him England’s record goalscorer. At his best – fully fit and on top of his game – he is still the greatest predator that is available to Capello. If he can get fit, he should at very least be worth a place in the squad for the 2010 World Cup finals (qualification permitting). But right now, he does not merit consideration.

 

Agree with that.

 

Especially the bit about Ian Wright being an ill informed wankstain who spouts reactionary drivel to please his Talksport/Sun paymasters.

[Guest alex]

Who wrote that btw?

Spot on.

[Fop 1]

I'm not sure Owen will ever get into Cappello's squad no matter what though, his omission when he was playing well and fit (and was in the best scoring form in the Premiership IIRC) seemed to suggest that.

[Norbert Colon 0]

Who wrote that btw?

Spot on.

 

Aye good article - none of the usual shite about us hindering his career - listened to talksport last night - fuck me that durham what a wanker - he reckons owen doesn't get picked cos he plays for a crap club - fair play to darren gough who was on with him for bigging us up but i had to reach for the off button

[Happy Face 29]

Who wrote that btw?

Spot on.

 

 

Oliver Kay on the Times website.

 

http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/200...to-capello.html

 

His mate George Caulkin has written a simililarly level headed article about people rushing to write Owen's football obituary...

 

http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/200...-owen-hope.html

 

AFTER a game in which David Beckham makes history, Michael Owen picks up his newspaper and reads that he is history. Owen is finished. Finished with England and finished with his club, just like Beckham was when he was discarded by Steve McClaren and then marooned by Fabio Capello at Real Madrid. It is all about history - a history that should guide us away from repeating mistakes.

 

Faced with a moment of turmoil in his professional life - international exile followed by the fallout from his decision to uproot to LA Galaxy - Beckham confronted his doubts in private and gritted his teeth in training. Capello noticed the exertion. The Italian is not sentimental; for the greater good of his team, he restored Beckham to the starting line-up and a dividend was paid. Real won La Liga.

 

 

Then, as now, there were noises off. Beckham was moving to Hollywood and it was portrayed as an appropriate relocation for a man whose career had been as much about fame as it had been free-kicks. Just as on Tuesday morning, Ian Wright suggested that Owen’s fascination with horse racing has somehow interfered with his career. If it smells like manure, it probably is.

 

Away from the microphones and when the cameras had clicked off, the vibes from McClaren’s camp was that Beckham would never serve his country again. There was a code. When it was claimed that “The door is always open,” the meaning was the opposite: “England have moved on.” And yet circumstances dictated that Beckham would return. Effort and dedication were rewarded.

 

There are differences as well as similarities between Beckham’s position and that of Owen. There is nothing political about Owen’s situation at Newcastle United; for all that his contract expires at the end of the season, his omission by Chris Hughton for the home game against Arsenal was all about fitness. The same applies to England. Capello was right; he could not pick a man on the basis of 25 forgettable minutes.

 

In another campaign disfigured by injury, Owen has mustered 10 goals for his club. Since the summer of 2005, he has only started 53 games in the Premier League for Newcastle, yet he has still scored 26 times. At Liverpool, Madrid and on Tyneside, his record remains formidable; 266 league starts, 157 goals. With England it is 89 caps, 40 goals. That is Owen’s history. As Beckham has demonstrated, being consigned to history is bunk.

 

Smothered hope

 

This week, a challenge. For Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland, this has become a season of toil, anxiety, drudgery and, in some cases, despair. Much of that is to do with fractured hope. When August came along, Kevin Keegan was still stirring dreams on Tyneside, Roy Keane was setting soaring standards and Gareth Southgate was promoting a style of football which had shades of Arsenal.

 

The change in tone and expectation has been immense. It hardly needs saying that something far worse and more tangible could still follow. But as had been said before in this space, constant misery is corrosive. Watching it is not much fun and reporting on it little better, in spite of the privilege. So in tribute to the onset of spring, a time of growth and renewal, let’s find something life-affirming to embrace.

 

Can anybody come up with a convincing answer to the following question: what, if anything, is there to be positive about in north east football? Insight is permitted, as is earnestness. So, too, is humour and even bitter irony. You can leave your comments on the bottom. If nobody can think of anything, then massively negative responses would also be appreciated.

 

Some obvious examples:

 

1. People. On Saturday March 21, Newcastle slipped into the relegation zone. Yet the attendance for the Chelsea game - 49,972 - was comfortably the biggest in the country. On Wearside, too, Sunderland’s support routinely outstrips that of more successful clubs.

 

2. This may have been a season of difficulty at Middlesbrough, but the club’s story is one of overachievement. They have been in the Premier League for 11 unbroken years, winning the Carling Cup and qualifying for Europe. By comparison, look at Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

 

3. With Niall Quinn in charge of Sunderland, the club’s soul is in safe hands. The same applies to Steve Gibson at Middlesbrough. At this point, we’ll cough nervously and pass over Newcastle.

 

Over to you. Reasons to be cheerful, please.

Edited March 31, 2009 by Happy Face

[Guest alex]

Spot George's mistake at the end btw.

[TicTacWoe 0]

I doubt Owen would be getting into the team fit or unfit, Capello simply doesn't seem to rate him, or at least doesn't favor his type of player. If it was just about fitness why did he call up Ledley King or Heskey for the previous squad?

[Happy Face 29]

Spot George's mistake at the end btw.

 

Sunderland doesn't have any soul?

[Guest alex]

Spot George's mistake at the end btw.

 

Sunderland doesn't have any soul?

Says Chelsea game but meant the Arsenal game. Should have also pointed out it was live on TV.

[Happy Face 29]

Spot George's mistake at the end btw.

 

Sunderland doesn't have any soul?

Says Chelsea game but meant the Arsenal game. Should have also pointed out it was live on TV.

 

 

You want to get yourself into Coxy's corner.