Fabio Capello’s England side will be hoping to get their Euro 2012 campaign off to a good start against Bulgaria at Wembley Stadium, London this Friday. After a disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa by Capello’s men there have been a few changes for the England squad.
Capello has named a number of relatively new faces to the side and recalled a couple of players that have been out of the fold since before the last World Cup. Kieran Gibbs of Arsenal, Adam Johnson of Manchester City have made brief cameos for the England team, and Gary Cahill of Bolton Wanderers all get call ups for the two game series against Bulgaria and Switzerland. Birmingham City’s new keeper, Ben Foster returns to the England squad after a two year absence along with Jolean Lescott who was in Capello’s provisional 30 man squad for the World Cup but did not make the flight to South Africa.
England’s players and management team came in for a huge amount of criticism after the World Cup with some of the nations top stars bearing the brunt of the accusations about their performances. Indeed, some of the World Cup squad were axed for the recent friendly against Hungary at Wembley Stadium, such as Matthew Upson who was blamed for one of Germany’s goals in the heavy four-one loss to knock England out of the tournament.
However, Capello stuck with the spine of the unsuccessful World Cup side with John Terry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole and Gareth Barry all making the starting line up. Unfortunately, the Three Lions struggled to win again, in a dire game that saw the Three Lions win two-one with both goals from England’s captain Steven Gerrard.
After the abject display against Hungary it was fitting that Capello would ring in the changes. It was many of the new boys that shone in the display against Hungary such as Adam Johnson and Michael Dawson who acquitted themselves well against the Magyars.
For Capello, the injuries to Terry, Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch means that he can change things around and not upset his star name’s egos.
Bulgaria have not qualified for a major tournament since Euro 2004 where they qualified top of their group that contained both Croatia and Belgium. But in Portugal for the Euro 2004 tournament, they finished the group stage with zero points and massive nine goals in the against column. The Tricolors, ranked 43rd in the FIFA World Rankings, are 36 places behind England in 7th place.
Stanimir Stoilov, the Bulgarian coach, will be hoping that his relatively experienced squad can keep their shape and nullify the England attacking threat and counter on the break. The two Petrov’s (Martin and Sylvan) who ply their trade in the Premier League and Valeri Bojinov of Parma will be key to the Tricolors attacking options.
The versatile defender Veselin Minev will be invaluable to the Bulgarian team as will Ivan Ivanov who plays his football in Russia. The Levski Sofia defender Minev is one of the new generation of Bulgarian players who will be hoping to move the Tricolor up the FIFA rankings and qualify for the 2012 Euros in Poland and Ukraine.
England Squad
Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (West Brom), Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Manchester City).
Defenders: Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Matthew Upson (West Ham)
Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), James Milner (Manchester City), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Forwards: Darren Bent (Sunderland), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).
Bulgaria Squad
Goalkeepers: Vladislav Stoyanov (Sheriff), Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Twente).
Defenders: Zahari Sirako (Amkar Perm), Ilian Stoyanov (Sanfrecce Hiroshim), Veselin Minev (Levski Sofia), Stanislav Manol (PSV Eindhoven), Ivan Ivanov (Alania Vladikavkaz), Zhivko Milano (Vaslui).
Midfielders: Stanislav Angelov (Steaua Bucureşti), Stanislav Genchev (Vaslui), Chavdar Yankov (Rostov), Georgi Peev (Amkar Perm), Martin Petrov, (Bolton Wanderers), Nikolay Dimitrov (Kasımpaşa), Stiliyan Petrov (c) (Aston Villa).
Forwards: Martin Kamburov (Dalian Shide), Valeri Bojinov (Parma), Dimitar Rangelov (Borussia Dortmund), Valeri Domovchiyski (Hertha Berlin), Iliyan Mitsanski (Kaiserslautern), Ivelin Popov (Gaziantepspor).
