Thirty-two days to go, and the news is busting out all over:
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| TOM HEVEZI/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
| Sven-Goran Eriksson meets his team. |
Sven-Goran Eriksson has named his provisional England team. No surprise: Wayne Rooney is in. Big surprise: two uncapped teenagers are in, including Theo Walcott, 17 and not yet possessing so much as one minute of Premier League experience, and Spurs' 19-year-old Aaron Lennon (and for a look at Walcott -- which is more than Eriksson professes to have seen -- go here, and thanks to World Cup Blog for the tip). Biggest surprise: only one striker who can be called a healthy strike option right now, and that's Peter Crouch. The Fiver's take: "Make no mistake, he's going to get savaged tomorrow." Headline I never thought I'd see, at least in terms of footy tactical nous and team selection: Sven Gone Wild!
The Dutch have named their team, too, and Edgar Davids is not a part of it. Every time I've seen Davids play this year at Spurs, I figured he would be there: at 33 he would appear to have something left in the tank, even thought this season has been one of injury and now he's not even sure he wants to come back. Now I'm afraid I'll miss the old cuss. Marco van Basten evidently will not.
As for the Ukraine, they didn't name their team. But whatever way that goes, the main worry is Andriy Shevchenko, who was hurt over the weekend in a friendly. As Shevchenko goes, so goes the Ukraine, so let's hope that he's as healthy for their June 14 opener as the reports suggest he should be.
And if you have Togo in your first-team-in-Germany pool, Congratulations!
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