Who starts tomorrow ?
OK, folks. Here we go. First game of a series of nine which, hopefully, leads us to winning the 2010 World Cup trophy in South Africa. I know I’m putting the cart before the horse here but all of the pontificating over the last two years is done with and we now begin the serious stuff tomorrow at Wembley Stadium when England take on Mexico in their first World Cup warm-up friendly. Why Capello chose Mexico is beyond me as they don’t play the same style, except maybe in defense, as any of our Group opposition despite being in CONCACAF with the USA. I can only assume that he wants some South American-style experience for his tactics before the tournament starts.
Anyhow, to kick us off, here is my starting line-up, with my substitutions for tomorrow:
Hart, Carragher, King, Terry, Baines, A. Johnson, Lampard, Gerrard, Lennon, Rooney, Crouch.
My second half subs would be : G. Johnson for Carragher, Dawson for Terry, Milner for A. Johnson, Walcott for Lennon, Huddlestone for Crouch.,
I’ll try to give you my thoughts behind my choices without rambling on too much so here goes.
Hart is my goalie for both Mexico and Japan. I want him between the sticks in South Africa unless he shows a lack of confidence and if that happens, then Green is my man. Calamity sits it out as my poor heart won’t stand it with him out there.
Carragher starts at right back, especially against a very mobile Mexican team who will run him around. Let’s see if he has what it takes to cover the right flank. Bring in Glen Johnson at half time and make him defend, nothing else.
King starts with Terry as that might be my starting pairing either against the USA or at sometime during the tournament as I can’t see Ferdinand lasting that many games. Put Dawson and King together for the second half to prepare for “worst case scenario”.
Baines plays the whole game to see if he can stomach the faster pace and not make dumb mistakes. Warnock starts against Japan.
I want Adam Johnson on the left to run at that weak Mexican defense. They play defensively very narrow just as the USA will do and we need to know if he can create anything on that left flank. Milner comes on at half time for 20 mins as I’d like to see how he does playing as a sitting midfielder in front of the centre backs.
Lampard and Gerrard start over any other combination. These two had better learn how to play competitively together or we’re in trouble. Huddlestone comes on after 65 minutes to replace Crouch, and plays as a defensive midfielder, moving Milner into the centre middle. Rooney can then play as our only striker and we’ll see how that works out. He’ll be up against Rafael Marquez who is no slouch and the Barcelona man will test his ability to be on his own up there. Lennon starts on the right and plays as a traditional winger. Walcott can come on after the break to replace Lennon when we change to playing Rooney as a lone striker.
Provided I didn’t drink too much red wine last night, I think this plan might give us the best look at what we have in the short time we have left before blast-off.
My prediction : England 2 Mexico, 2 but does it really matter what the score is ?
