Fabio Capello has signalled the end of an era for a generation
of England players by axing almost half the World Cup squad who
performed so abysmally in South Africa.
Arsenal youngsters Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, along with
Aston Villa's Ashley Young and Manchester City's Adam Johnson, have
been brought into the squad for this week's friendly against
Hungary, along with Fulham's Bobby Zamora.
In all, 13 players originally selected for the World Cup have
been excluded and although the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Jermain
Defoe are missing through injury, Robert Green has been punished
for his calamitous performance against the USA and Matthew Upson
for his equally abject display against Germany.
In: Jack Wilshere has been called up to the England
squad to face Hungary
David James has been dropped and Jamie Carragher, Michael
Carrick and Ledley King also do not feature.
World Cup wingers Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips have
also been ejected, while Theo Walcott, surprisingly dropped for the
World Cup, is back.
Darren Bent returns while Zamora, who would have featured in
South Africa had it not been for an achilles operation, is likely
to be given his England debut on Wednesday night and replace Emile
Heskey, who has retired from international football.
Out: World Cup flop Robert Green has been dropped
by Capello
Peter Crouch, who was barely used in South Africa, is also out,
with Capello having seemingly given up on the Spurs striker.
Steven Warnock, who was a last-minute addition for South Africa,
is replaced by Gibbs. Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill, Wes Brown and
Carlton Cole, all called up previously but untainted by the South
Africa debacle, are recalled and Michael Dawson, who replaced the
injured Ferdinand in the World Cup, is retained.
Capello has not informed the players he has dropped, even though
for the likes of Green and Wright-Phillips it is likely to spell
the end of their international careers. However, he is likely to
make calls next week to thank dropped players for their
service.
'I just arrived back at work three days ago and I have had to
choose the players for the squad,' he said. 'After this I will ring
these players and thank them for what they did for us.'
Young Gun: Gibbs has won his first call-up to the
full England squad
Capello has used his first squad since the dreadful South
African performances to attempt to draw a line under the past and
look forward.
Gibbs and Wilshere are the most eye-catching selections and both
are expected to play key roles as England bid to qualify for Euro
2012.
Gibbs, 20, celebrated his elevation to the squad with a
wonderful strike for Arsenal in their 6-5 pre-season friendly win
against Legia Warsaw, a game in which Wilshere also played.
Capello said: 'I know these two players, we have always been
following them and they played very well in the Emirates Cup for
Arsenal.'
Goalkeepers: Ben Foster,
Joe Hart, Paul Robinson
Defenders: Wes Brown,
Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Kieran Gibbs, Phil
Jagielka, Glen Johnson, John Terry
Midfielders: Gareth
Barry, Steven Gerrard Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, James Milner,
Ashley Young, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere
Forwards: Darren Bent,
Carlton Cole, Wayne Rooney, Bobby Zamora
Despite the friendly coming just three days before the start of
the Premier League season, Capello has called up the majority of
his star names, including Wayne Rooney and John Terry, because he
wants to begin to rebuild team spirit before the qualifiers against
Bulgaria and Switzerland in early September.
Capello said: 'This game arrives too early. Some players are
good at this moment, some are not because they only started to
train 10 days ago. It will be an interesting game, but the date
isn't good. But I think you need to bring together the group again,
including the senior players, because the first qualification game
is on September 1.'
Capello will use the squad sessions this week to canvass the
senior players on their thoughts as to what went wrong in South
Africa, where England only managed to win one game and recorded
their heaviest World Cup defeat in losing 4-1 to Germany.
It was just such an exchange of views that those same England
players requested following the awful 0-0 draw with Algeria, a
meeting John Terry then publicly advocated.
But following the adverse reaction to Terry's call, the planned
team meeting became a muted affair, with no real input from
players. Now it seems Capello wants his players to speak up in a
bid to rebuild the team.