A settled team and, in particular, a settled defence, are vital if England are to fulfil their enormous potential on the biggest stage. And although there are tickets left on Fabio’s plane to South Africa, there appears only one starting place still up for grabs; in between the sticks.

Ideally we would be heading into the tournament with a back five who had played together for the entire qualifying campaign. But we haven’t had a truly recognised number one for nearly three years.

Since James lost the shirt to Paul Robinson in 2004, after a costly error against Austria in a World Cup qualifier, Carson, Green and Foster have all tried and failed to establish themselves as their country’s last line of defence.

Green, who had proved a solid deputy to James during his injury absence, became the first England goalkeeper to see red when he brought down Artem Milevsky for a penalty on Saturday evening.

Although the penalty was missed, Green’s poor decision-making and an impressive substitute performance from the returning James will likely see the Pompey stopper continue in goal on Wednesday when Belarus visit Wembley.

It's the right choice. After all, with his starting 11 almost sorted, Capello must use his time and the games available to him wisely. The goalkeeper issue needs ironing out as soon as possible and, in James, our Italian leader has a player with years of international experience, who is still capable of playing at the top level despite his advancing years.

He may have earned the nickname ‘Calamity James’ for a series of high-profile mistakes for Liverpool in the late 90s, but if you were to ask Terry or Ferdinand who they want behind them come kick-off in South Africa, a reply of ‘James’ is about as inevitable as another penalty shoot-out defeat...

- Joe Strange

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