Capello goes for youth and experience in surprise squad

Fabio Capello announced his provisional World Cup squad on Monday, a 30 man unit that contains a few surprises. The squad, which will be reduced to just 23 players on June 1st,  includes three uncapped players (Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson and Matt Dawson) and three more with just one international appearance (Joe Hart, Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines). Despite missing most of the season injured with cruciate knee ligament damage, Joe Cole makes the squad and veteran Jamie Carragher is also selected after being encouraged out of international retirement. Owen Hargreaves, Bobby Zamora and Ashley Young all miss out.

The number of inexperienced players in the squad may seem like a bit of a gamble to some, although it must be remembered that seven of those selected today will not make the flight to South Africa. The pre-tournament warm up games against Mexico (24th May) and Japan (30th May) will provide an ideal opportunity to see what these players can do and in the final squad of 23 there's surely room for a wild card or two. Capello is not a reckless manager; he has been careful to balance these raw talents with some experienced campaigners and Carragher's selection in particular is testament to this.

The selection of the Liverpool defender comes as somewhat of a surprise , although injuries to Wes Brown and Joleon Lescott and concerns over the fitness of Rio Ferdiand and Ledley King have left England vulnerable in defence. Whilst Carragher's popularity is still suffering following past remarks about the international team his selection is a shrewd move by Capello, and  his experience and versatility could be vital in South Africa.

There will be many criticisms of this squad and some commentators will be understandably disappointed that Fulham forward Bobby Zamora was ignored. But it must be remembered that those selected do not, and should not , represent the 30 best English players, but the 30 players who can give England the best chance of winning the World Cup. On any 'Capello index' scale Emile Heskey has clearly performed less well than Zamora this season, but his international experience and ability to bring the best out of Wayne Rooney make him a certainty to make the plane to Africa. We must trust Capello in his squad selection; let's face it, you don't win 9 domestic titles and a 2 European titles without knowing a thing or two about team selection. Whether the Italian adds a World Cup conquest to his already impressive CV will be decided another day.

The final word regards the already infamous 'Capello Index', the player rating site that was dropped within hours of its official announcement. On criteria devised by the England boss, performance data and ratings were to be provided on every game at the tournament, although due to media concerns about its impact on the England team the project was shelved. It's a real shame that the British media saw this as an opportunity to create a 'pre tournament crisis', rather than focusing on the exciting squad Capello has put together. I for one have no problem whatsoever with this illusionary 'conflict of interest'. Capello wasn't rating anyone but simply devised an objective standard by which players could be judged, although unfortunately scandal searching seems to be ingrained in press culture so much detail was casually overlooked. What's even more of disappointing is that this useful resource is now unavailable, postponed until further notice. Let's hope it's up and running again by the time the domestic season starts. In the meantime you can keep up to date with all the news and views from the World Cup right here. Just click 'follow' at the top right of the page to keep in touch with Bolton Raider, live from South Africa throughout the tournament.

Richard Jackson (The Bolton Raider)