CAPELLO'S DILEMMO'S

With the World Cup less than 100 days away and with expectations high it is imperative that Fabio Capello gets his squad selection right. In the last tournament, Sven Goran Erikson was arguably ‘a striker short' and also took 17 year old Theo Walcott in the squad – but did not play him.Capello is faced with several dilemmas. The goalkeeping situation for me is that David James although now approaching 40 is the number 1. I would personally take an experienced back-up keeper like Paul Robinson as well – 40 odd caps and he kept goal at the last World Cup, with Rob Green as the other keeper.

Wayne Bridge has ruled himself out and the first choice Ashley Cole is injured. The natural cover for the left back position Leighton Baines and Stephen Warnock have a total of 2 caps between them, but there are players such as Gareth Barry who could drop back and play in that position if need be.

Middle of the park. Does he take Beckham? Capello has the luxury of several quality midfielders to choose from. I would personally take Beckham along in the squad – his free kicks are still a weapon and he can cross. However, I would have also possibly looked at David Bentley in the friendly with Egypt following his displays in the FA Cup for Spurs particularly against Leeds where he ‘ran the left-back ragged' and produced some marvellous crosses. He has pace, vision and can cross. I don't think the alternative options Lennon and Wright-Phillips have the crossing ability which Bentley and David Beckham posess although to be fair, Wright-Phillips did put a good low cross in for a goal and also scored one himself in the 3-1 win over Egypt. England always seem to score goals – and win matches when they attack down the flanks and put crosses in. For that reason, I think Stewart Downing and Joe Cole should be picked in the squad to battle it out for a left wing position. Cole played in that position in the last World Cup and did reasonably well. Downing, who can cross and has a good left foot hit on him from 25/30 yards although he needs to be more consistent and ‘do the business' more often, should also be selected. James Milner, I think, should also be picked for the World Cup – he looks lively and has a good hit on him. I don't' know whether Theo Walcott has done enough yet, but he is undoubtedly quick.

As for the strikers, obviously Rooney is a certainty ( he is the best player in the squad a class act and he will be joined certainly by Jermaine Defoe (in sharp form again and scoring regularly for England), and Peter Crouch (whose height and style of play always offer something different.) I also notice that for a tall man he is surprisingly agile on the ‘deck' with quick feet and neat flicks. A well taken brace against Egypt taking his scoring tally to an impressive 20 goals in 37 appearances will almost certainly cement his place. Which leaves (assuming Capello takes 5 strikers to the World Cup) 2 positions up for grabs. At this stage, Chelsea's Carlton Cole looks to be taking one of those but there are obviously other options. Sunderland's Darren Bent, Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor (who says himself that he's only '50-50' to be on the plane), and Emile Heskey who holds the ball up well but some say gets injured too easily, have all featured in England squads and matches recently. There is also a certain 40 goal England striker at Manchester United called Michael Owen although it looks as though he will be ruled out with a hamstring injury anyway. Still you never know. Capello will name his provisional World Cup squad of 30 which will be followed by two friendlies at the end of May against Mexico and Japan. The provisional squad will then be whittled down to 23 at the Austrian training camp after the Japan friendly which takes place in Graz, Austria on May 30. Then it business against the USA on June 12…..

Could I just make a request for every member of the England team to sing the national anthem with passion and also cut out the spitting during games as well.

Steve Billingham