Having already seen key striker, Marco Streller withdraw from the World Cup, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld now has a new concern. Captain, Alexander Frei injured his ankle in training after a tackle from Steve von Bergen. He has been sent for a scan so the extent of the injury can be conduced.
The build up to this World Cup has been as much about who may not be there as to who will be there. Players have been ruling themselves out of matches or getting serious injury scares. It seems that a high proportion of these players, often influential players, are based in England and play in the Premier League.
England captain Rio Ferdinand has been ruled out for 6 to 8 weeks and will miss the World Cup finals after sustaining a knee injury in training after a clash with Emile Heskey. It is a big blow to England and to Ferdinand who has missed a number of games this season with Manchester United through injury. Ferdinand has played in two World Cup tournaments (2002 & 2006) and has scored one goal in the 3-0 victory over Denmark in 2002. Steven Gerrard will skipper England in Ferdinand’s absence, whilst Michael Dawson has flown out to South Africa as cover for the 31 year old.
Portuguese winger Simão Sabrosa has spoken of the ambition and determination of Portugal after their 3-1 friendly victory over Cameroon. Raul Meireles scored a brace whilst Luis Nani of Manchester United scored a delightful chip having been setup by former United team mate Cristiano Ronaldo. It was a personal feat for Simão who became the joint fifth most caps for Portugal. He is now only eight caps behind Portugal’s top goalscorer of all time Pauleta but still has some way to reach Luis Figo’s record 127 caps. Portugal’s best run came in the 1966 World Cup finals, when they were inspired by Eusebio to finish third – something that Simão obviously believes can happen again.
England manager Fabio Capello has named his 23 man squad, which includes once surprising omission – Theo Walcott. Although Walcott has continuous flatter to deceive at International level, despite notching up a hat trick against Croatia in qualifying, he was generally considered to be part of the 23 that would fly out to South Africa. The 1966 World Cup winners and hosts will generally pin their attacking responsibility on Wayne Rooney, who will no doubt be the main man for the three lions in just over a week.
Theo Walcott has been left out of the final England squad by Fabio Capello. I have previously hinted that this is something I would have considered from the very beginning. I would have never selected Walcott in my initial squad. I then suggested that actually Walcott’s selection against Mexico and Japan may not have been all it seems – see point four.
On Monday I wrote about why I felt Walcott should go to the World Cup but only in an impact substitute role. Today the England team for the second and final World Cup warm-up match against Japan was announced: David James, Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand (C), John Terry, Ashley Cole, Theo Walcott, Tom Huddlestone, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent.
Head coach of Denmark, Morten Olsen, has named his final 23 man squad for the World Cup. He has included the promising Palermo centre back Simon Kjaer despite picking up what looked like a potentially serious injury against Senegal yesterday. Kjaer will still undergo some scans so the extent of his injury can be assessed and monitored but the early expectations are that he will be able to play a part at the World Cup.
Mexico’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez has today had a work permit granted enabling him to join Manchester United on the 1st July when the transfer window opens.
I am inherently biased. I should point out that I wouldn’t have selected Theo Walcott for the England provisional squad in the first place. However, he was selected, so I will try to provide an argument for and against his selection in the final squad.
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