England And The World Cup Qualifyers

So England are playing Kazakhstan this evening at Wembley and it would be fair to say that their captain, Chelsea’s John Terry, must certainly be one of the biggest and strongest characters in world football. You only have to look at his courageous, lead from the front display, during the Champions League Final last may to see what I mean.

It was foc course Terry who picked up the coveted Post Champions League Final Award for” The Best Defender Who Cost His Team The Trophy By Not Letting A Striker Take The Glory Kick”.  In his usual manner, Terry was in deed fearless as he strode to the penalty spot.  We all know what happened next!  So as England now prepare to take their World Cup Qualifying campaign to the next level after the excellent 1 - 4 away in Croatia, the news will no doubt come with great regret, wailing and gnashing of teeth that the England captain is extremely unlikely to play in England’s game this evening.  Terry has been unable to train all week.

What will England do without him do shaw up their defence? Will Fabio Capello play Wes Brown or Matthew Upson or perhaps Joleon Lescott instead (although he wouldn’t nesecarrily be my choice as his form is not at the same level it was last season).  However, Capello will obviously give Ferdinand the captain’s armband.  But will the team continue on from their wonderful performance in Zargreb or will it be back to normal and an unimpressive performance with a 2-0 win?  

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It would seem that Capello has come to the conclusion that since 2004 Michael Owen has become a complete a waste of space and is not worthy to wear the 3 Lions.  It is obvious that he is also of the opinion that players need to be fully fit to represent their country, which let’s face it is not a bad opinion to have.  He obviously doesn’t want them popping lots of nasty horrible painkillers and injections or throwing themselves into totally stupid challenges in order to prove how committed they are to the England cause.  Neither will he want them bleeding over their nice and clean white shirts.  Think of the laundry bill.  Times are tough after all!  So, has he got that right or has he still not grasped what players like Terry do when they pull on they jersey and play for their country?  Not sure yet!

So with this policy, Terry might also find himself up against it to be fit in time for England’s much more taxing fixture next week way to Belarus. England losing their captain is of course not good, especially from a defensive point of view, but if you think about it, it could be a lot worse. Take Scotland for example, who are  preparing to face Norway and in particluar the very tall and imposing striker John Carew.  Scotland are probably going to have David Weir in their defence. How old is Weir anyway?  Surely he must be about 50 by now.  He’s been around for years!

Meanwhile, take a look at poor old France.  Not only do they have to put up with the weird M. Raymond Domenech as their manager but they have been forced to replace the injured Arsenal player William Gallas with non other than one Jean-Alain Boumsong.  Let’s not forget that as a central defender, Boumsong couldn’t even hold onto his place in the Newcastle United defence. I mean, wow!  If you look at it like that, then surely England, even without Terry, are truly blessed.

Rik
The Soccer Blogger

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