England striker Michael Owen has failed to make it to the England squad once again as he has not been included in the 23-man squad declared by England manager Fabio Capello for the upcoming world cup 2010 qualifying matches against Kazakhstan and Belarus. England will face Kazakhstan at the Wembley stadium on 11 October 2008 and this will be the last home game for England this year. Last month, England started off well in their world cup qualifying campaign with victories against Andorra and then against Croatia. England’s laborious 2-0 victory against Andorra in Barcelona picked up three points but did not impress the fans, but in Croatia, England players outclassed the home side 4-1 with Theo Walcott scoring a remarkable hat trick. All the way, that was a confidence-booster performance against Croatia.
Manager Fabip Capello has brought some changes in the squad. Midfielder Steven Gerrard, who was injured during England’s opening two world cup qualifying matches, has been named in the squad, while winger Joe Cole has been ruled out with foot injury. Manchester City midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips has got the reward for his excellent current form as he has been recalled to the England squad. Jimmy Bullard and David Bentley lost their place in the England side. Paul Robinson replaced injured Scott Carson as the third goalkeeper in the squad.
Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch is in the squad alongside Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott and Emile Heskey etc. Both Walcott and Heskey played very well against Croatia. Michael Owen scored 5 goals from six matches so far, but manager Fabio Capello thinks that it is not enough to get a place in the squad. He said that scoring goals does not indicate good form. That means, the manager does not think that Owen is in good form now, even though the Newcastle United captain has been in scoring form. Here, I am giving the names of the members of 23-man England squad from BBC:
England squad: James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham), Carson (West Brom); Brown (Manchester United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Lescott (Everton), Upson (West Ham), A Cole (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea); Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Walcott (Arsenal), Barry (Aston Villa), Jenas (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Downing (Middlesbrough), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City); Heskey (Wigan), Crouch (Portsmouth), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Portsmouth).