Ten is the number worn by the football gods. Pele, Maradona,
Platini, Zidane. But England’s No 9 at a World Cup has also long
been associated with greatness.
In 1966 and 1970 it was Bobby Charlton; in ‘98 Alan Shearer. Nat
Lofthouse was the first back in 1954 (in 1950 they did not have
fixed squad numbers) and some other
wonderful players have since followed Bolton’s ‘Lion of Vienna’.
Glenn Hoddle and Peter Beardsley are members of the same exclusive
club, as is a certain Wayne Rooney.
But Rooney’s preference for the 10 this time around has provided
a vacancy and the player chosen by Fabio Capello to wear the nine
in South Africa this month is not someone who necessarily captures
the imagination like his more illustrious predecessors.
Top ten: Wayne Rooney, pictured scoring against
Andorra at Wembley, will wear the hallowed shirt in South
Africa
1. David James
2. Glen Johnson
3. Ashley Cole
4. Steven Gerrard
5. Rio Ferdinand
(capt.)
6. John Terry
7. Aaron Lennon
8. Frank Lampard
9. Peter Crouch
10. Wayne Rooney
11. Joe Cole
12. Robert Green
13. Stephen Warnock
14. Gareth Barry
15. Matthew Upson
16. James Milner
17. Shaun
Wright-Phillips
18. Jamie Carragher
19. Jermain Defoe
20. Ledley King
21. Emile Heskey
22. Michael Carrick
23. Joe Hart
As a scorer of seven goals in his last six England appearances,
Peter Crouch might beg to differ. Might argue that he is a more
than worthy successor to the heroes of England’s past. He has
scored 21 goals in 38 games in all, which he could quite rightly
point out equates to a better strike-rate than Charlton. It took
our favourite football knight 106 games to score the 49 goals that
remain an English record.
Later today the FA will officially announce the squad numbers of
the England players but yesterday sources close to Capello said it
would be wrong to read too much into the selection of Crouch for
the No 9.
Emile Heskey remains in contention for a place alongside Rooney
if, that is, Capello decides to kick off that opening encounter
with the USA on Saturday week with two
strikers.
But Crouch must wonder if he is in the box seat; if, judging by
the allocation of the other numbers, Capello has him in mind for a
starting place against the Americans.
If the squad numbers are relatively meaningless, why has Steven
Gerrard been given No 4 and Glen Johnson No 2? Why is Jamie
Carragher No 18 and David James No 1?
James is the one that could yet prove misleading when Capello
has publicly declared a desire to leave the selection of his
goalkeeper until the last possible minute. Robert Green and Joe
Hart are also under strong consideration, the Capello camp
insisting it was purely ‘out of respect’ that they gave the jersey
to 39-year-old James. This will be his third World Cup, after
all.
Crouch is no World Cup novice, either. After a hat-trick against
Jamaica that was memorable for the robot dance he then performed in
the final friendly before travelling to Germany, Crouch started the
tournament as partner to Michael Owen in the absence of Rooney, who
was injured.
He followed a solid performance in the 1-0 defeat of Paraguay
with a goal in the 2-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago, before
stepping off the bench in the draw that followed with Sweden and
coming on again in the quarter-final with Portugal that marked the
end of England’s German adventure.
Prolific: Peter Crouch (right) hugs Ledley King
after another goal
That he remains an international force is great credit to
Crouch. He was a Liverpool player in 2006 but he has extended his
international career despite the upheaval of moving first to
Portsmouth and then to Tottenham.
The international goals have continued to come, most recently
against Mexico, but before that against Egypt in March and Belarus
in the final fixture of England’s World Cup qualifying
campaign.
Ask Rooney to identify his preferred partner and he would
probably say Heskey, if only privately. Rooney does seem to be at
his best when Heskey is on the pitch, and has
scored nine goals in his last nine games alongside the Aston Villa
forward. Capello might also favour Heskey for the qualities he
brings to the team.
Goals might not be one of them but England attack with more
dynamism when Heskey is selected ahead of Crouch. Going into this
tournament, however, Capello has other factors to consider, not
least the lack of first team football that appears to have affected
Heskey’s form. His miss against Japan in Graz on Sunday was
painful.
There is nothing Crouch can do about the obvious lack of power
and athleticism. All any footballer can do is play to his
potential, and Crouch has done just that. He has consistently
delivered for England and if Capello does reward him with a
starting place as well as the No 9 shirt, he can certainly say he
has earned the right to be there.