EURO 2012 Qualification – Match Preview: England versus Montenegro
England prepare to face Montenegro at the famous Wembley Stadium in London but this meeting will not be as star studded as expected at first as both the sides have their fair share of injury problems. Nonetheless, the three lions
will be looking to take advantage of the fact that they have had a brilliant start to their qualification campaign for the European Championships of 2012. Montenegro haven’t been that bad themselves, the eastern European side have been unbeaten so far in the
qualification process but all that can change once they are pitted against Capello’s men.
Montenegro played their latest EURO 2012 qualification match just four days ago on 8th October, 2010 against Bulgaria, an eventful encounter as it was, the match ended with a tactical win for coach Zlatko Kranjcar’s
Montenegrin national team. Before the face-off against Bulgaria, Montenegro pulled off a remarkable win against Bulgaria and before that against Wales, thus with three wins out of three, Montenegro have been matching England stride for stride.
Fabio Capello’s hand has been forced a little as far as selection for the English national team squad is concerned, for this current round of qualification matches, the former Real Madrid manager has called up Bolton Wanderer’s
captain, the 33-year old forward Kevin Davies. Kevin’s inclusion in the English national team squad has come as a surprise for many English team fans as Capello had said after that 2010 FIFA World Cup debacle that he will be giving a healthy run out to England’s
young players such as Ashley Young, Rodwell, Wilshere and Agbonlahor. Davies who is on the wrong side of 30 now is hardly categorized as young anymore but it remains to be seen whether the muscular centre forward actually plays against Montenegro or not.
Capello has called up Darren Bent, Peter Crouch and Wayne Rooney as well. Robert Green, Rio Ferdinand, Jack Wilshere and Joe Cole have also been called up. Wilshere impressed for Arsenal in their UEFA Champions League tie against
Partizan Belgrade and the young midfielder also held his own on Friday as he was a part of England’s U-21side which defeated Romania. With the big boys now, young Wilshere will be looking to make his mark on the first team stage sooner rather than later. Phillip
Jagielka and Aaron Lennon are both out injured for England, therefore Capello has called upon the services of Stewart Downing and Gary Cahill to fill in for their injures counter parts.
The most notable absentee for England will be their ex-team captain, John Terry. The Chelsea defender withdrew from the squad after sustaining a back injury on the weekend. Frank Lampard, Jermain Defoe and Theo Walcott also miss
out on the squad due to injuries. Another big news for all England fans before the match was the fact that Rio Ferdinand will be back in the starting line up after his lengthy lay-off due to recurring back and knee problems. The Manchester United defender
will also keep a hold of team captaincy which had been temporarily awarded to Steven Gerrard as the former Leeds United player was out injured.
All early news suggests that Capello will be starting off with Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch up front with Kevin Davies on the bench. On the other hand, Montenegro will be without their star midfielder Jovetic who is expected to
come back in February of 2011 as he is currently out injured with damaged knee ligaments. Montenegro will be without Nikola Drincic as the defender is a long term injury casualty. Jovetic’s injury has put all the pressure on Mirko Vucinic and Elsad Zverotic.
Montenegrin fans will be especially expecting a fine performance from Mirko Vucinic who has been impressive for his club side Roma of late.
No doubt England are favourites to win the match, not only do they have enough quality on paper, they also have a far stronger bench. However, the deciding factor might be the Wembley crowd which will be ushering England forward.
Anything but a win for Capello’s men will be seen as a failure by the English footballing fraternity, something that the Italian can hardly afford.
Tags: