With two friendly fixtures before World Cup 2010, Fabio Capello has the tricky task of optimising the collective playing time of his favoured personnel whilst fielding as many of his squad as reasonably practicable.
Even with Gareth Barry missing, the team shape for the friendly against Mexico should not vary significantly from that which became familiar over the qualifiers. Frank Lampard will form one part of a conservative central-midfield pairing, Wayne Rooney will play a flexible attacking role just behind a target man, Steven Gerrard will take up an inside-left role, whilst a more orthodox winger will feature on the right. The key questions relate to who will take up these spare roles.
Next to Lampard in central-midfield it could be Tom Huddlestone, Michael Carrick or James Milner. Capello is a big fan of Milner and the Villa player has performed with vigour and aplomb during his appearances for England. However, Lampard does tend to have the most freedom within England’s central-midfield structure, so a more defensively minded partner may be required. Carrick has been used with Barry in central-midfield (to good effect in the friendly against Egypt), but he has been out of favour at Man Utd and may not provide a sufficiently resolute defensive shield when Lampard does break forwards. Huddlestone is a good ball-playing defensive midfielder, but perhaps the closest to a like-for-like replacement for Barry is Scott Parker. He offers a bit more grit than Carrick and has more experience than Milner of stabilising a central-midfield. I’d therefore opt for Parker, although Milner would be a close second based on his international form and adaptability.
On the right of midfield it’s a tricky choice between Theo Walcott and Aaron Lennon. Walcott’s form has been hit-and-miss with Arsenal, but he’s a Capello favourite and his pace could unsettle any full-back. If Walcott’s form remains shaky, then Lennon may be first choice by the time the tournament arrives: Lennon has experienced injury but returned to Tottenham’s starting XI before the close of the Premier League season. Adam Johnson is an intriguing alternative: although left-footed he has been used on the right at Man City. But with Gerrard tucking in from the left flank, Capello may prefer to keep a right-footer hugging the opposite touchline so that the team structure does not collapse into congestion in central areas.
Emile Heskey was first-choice centre-forward over the qualifiers but didn’t see any action against Egypt back in March. His playing time for Villa has been limited, but sensational club form has never been a prerequisite for his selection. His strength, pace and work-rate have been a key buttress to the team structure and he brings out the best in other attacking players. However, Peter Crouch, with his vastly superior international goal return, must be pushing for a first-team berth.
My favoured team for the Mexico friendly features above, but it would also be good to see Adam Johnson, Aaron Lennon and Darren Bent in action. [The graphic is courtesy of the gaffr.com team selector.]
My friend Dr Mike recently moved from England to New York. This provided the opportunity for WCC to gain some insight from behind enemy lines! USA are, of course, England’s principal rivals in Group C. (Like me, Dr Mike doesn’t actually have a doctorate.)
In the case of Duscher and now Boateng, a collective demonisation very much follows Karpman’s Drama Triangle, which outlines the connection between responsibility and power, and the relationship to certain boundaries. This hypothesis deals with a theory that suggests all people (and in this collective form, nations) construct a ‘script’ – an individual’s concept or belief about who they are, what the world is like, how they relate to the world and how the world relates to them. In this case a national preconception with how Germany are viewed in the world, and how Ballack fits into this view, mixes toxically with the suspicion (and perhaps fear) of the dangerous Ghanaian team (e.g. we love Ballack, he represents us, he is athletic, he is all-action, he is our hero/Ghana will target Ballack, Ghana will be a better team if they don’t have Ballack to face etc).
By Dr Neil: They say that, by the end of the season, the table doesn’t lie: the best team will win the league, the worst teams will be relegated, and the middling teams will finish in the middle! So surely, the same philosophy can be applied to the players within these teams? Fantasy football leagues in England have been rating players with reference to objective criteria for nearly 20 years now. So what would the England team look like if we use data from the most popular Premier League player picking portal, 
In England, there is a latent suspicion of intelligence, a suspicion which is ready to spring forth at opportune moments. England was traditionally a class-bound culture, with access to an academic education once the preserve of an upper-class elite. England now purports to be a meritocratic society: the ideals of this society suggest that variable qualities of individuals will lead to justifiable differentials in the accumulation of material rewards. It may therefore be the case that resentment is directed at those with high academic intelligence as this is still perceived to be an advantage conferred by inheritance from class background rather than personal endeavour. Another possibility is that intelligence is seen to be a more genetically-endowed quality than other virtues, such as a predilection for hard work. It is thus unfair, within a truly meritocratic society, to be born intelligent.
