Bothroyd leads revamped England squad
The Fabio Capello media criticism may have to wait until the actual game this week after the England manager, criticised after the World Cup for not showing a great enough willingness to shake things up, named a fairly surprising squad for Wednesday's friendly with France.
Capello called Chris Smalling, Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and, most interestingly of all, Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd up for the first time, while Micah Richards, the one-time England regular who had previously been ignored by the Italian, received an unexpected recall.
Glen Johnson and Kevin Davies are perhaps the most shocking omissions, as Joe Cole's performances for Liverpool haven't really been good enough to justify selection and Scott Parker, Stewart Downing and Matt Jarvis, though all in great form, were always likely to be snubbed.
As usual, it hasn't taken long for Capello's plans to be compromised by a number of withdrawals, as John Terry - who missed Chelsea's loss to Sunderland - Ashley Cole and Gabriel Agbonlahor all pulled out with injuries, meaning that Stephen Warnock, Gary Cahill and Carlton Cole all earned late spots.
England are [2.22] to halt France's recent revival at Wembley, with the visitors available to back at [3.95]. If you're struggling to get excited about this match then perhaps our guide to the five factors that could make it a reasonably intriguing international will help build your enthusiasm levels.
Squad: Joe Hart, Ben Foster, Robert Green, Kieran Gibbs, Stephen Warnock, Rio Ferdinand, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling, Micah Richards, Ashley Young, Adam Johnson, Jack Wilshere, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Theo Walcott, Peter Crouch, Andy Carroll, Jay Bothroyd, Carlton Cole
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Published: 15 Nov 2010
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