Four Chelsea players have been selected in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s 23-man England World Cup squad: John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, and Wayne Bridge.
But Shaun Wright-Phillips was overlooked in favour of Theo Walcott, Arsenal’s unproven 17-year-old who has yet to play a Premiership game, and Spurs’ Aaron Lennon, 19 years old and uncapped. Middlesbrough’s Stuart Downing, who has one international cap as a substitute, was another surprise inclusion.
Two of the four strikers in the squad are injured or recovering from injury – Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and Newcastle United’s Michael Owen – while another, Liverpool’s Peter Crouch, scored only four more League goals than John Terry this season. (Don’t get me started on the inclusion of Bayern Munich’s Owen Hargreaves…)
Eriksson has been nothing more than conservative with his selections up to this point, so why choose to experiment now?
Good luck Sven; you’ll need it.
