Peter Crouch will lead the attack for England against Ukraine tomorrow as the revolving door of injured strikers continues.
With Fabio Capello still reluctant to pick Michael Owen and with injuries to Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Darren Bent – Crouch is likely to play as a lone striker with the rampaging paring of Gerrard and Rooney playing behind him.
English strikers seem almost cursed at present with Heskey and Cole picking up injuries in the Slovakia game on Saturday. Unbelievably Darren Bent – who was drafted into the squad as a replacement after Saturday’s game – also managed to pick up a knee injury in training today. Crouch himself is still trying to recover from a dead leg dished out by Martin Skirtel in the Slovakia game.
Capello has called up Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor to replace Bent. The Villa striker has lost his goal scoring touch of late and was even booed off the pitch by his own fans recently. This arguably puts Michael Owen at sixth in the Forward pecking order and with Joe Cole, Theo Walcott and Dean Ashton all set to return to action soon – it seems the one time Liverpool and Real Madrid player’s England days could be numbered.
On the decision to go with Crouch, Capello said; “I am sure that Crouch is the best forward I can put into the first XI.” The Portsmouth man has a good goal record for England.
When asked about his decision to call up Agbonlahor, Capello said; “I spoke with the assistant manager of Aston Villa and was told Agbonlahor had been training very well during the last two or three days,”.
When asked about the continued absence of Owen in any England squads the Italian added;” In every interview I said the door, for all the players, is open. I chose Agbonlahor because he has played a lot of games. I respect Owen but I am focused on the game of football.”
It is not all bad news for England on the injury front with Ferdinand now declared as fit to slot back into defense with captain John Terry. The United man could have played against Slovakia on Saturday but Capello decided to be cautious and rest him. With some critics accusing the Upson-Terry partnership of being an unsteady one, Ferdinand’s return is welcome news for most England fans. Shaun Wright Phillips is now also available for selection after recovering from a minor injury.
A lot of plaudits have recently been in the direction of the in form Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney. The Man Utd forward will reach a landmark tomorrow as he is set to earn his 50th cap for the Three Lions.
Much of the talk in Group Six has been about the form of the England team it is worth noting that Ukraine are unbeaten in their three Qualifying games to date.
One man who is certainly looking to make his mark is ex Chelsea flop Andriy Shevchenko. Shevchenko has made only sparing substitute appearances for AC Milan so far this season but seems keen to make an impression at Wembley tomorrow.
When asked about the game against England, Shevchenko stated; “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. 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.”
England will certainly start as favorites tomorrow but often struggle against fast technical teams who are able to shift the ball around quickly. Gerrard and Rooney are the two big stars expected to shine tomorrow at Wembley………but who would bet against a certain AC Milan legend stealing the show?
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