No injury worries for Fabio Capello ahead of England's Slovenia and Croatia games

01 September 2009 11:58
Fabio Capello's England were given a clean bill of health today as they began preparations for Saturday's friendly with Slovenia at Wembley. Capello has named a 24-man squad for the match, which precedes a far more important World Cup qualifier against Croatia on September 9, and the Italian had a 100% turnout at Arsenal's London Colney training complex this morning. England require a victory over Croatia to seal their place at South Africa 2010 so Capello will use the Slovenia encounter to solve a number of selection puzzles. The goalkeeping position appears to be between Robert Green and Ben Foster, who has pulled out of the last two England squads. Liverpool's Glen Johnson will hope to hold off a challenge from Wes Brown to play at right back, while it is also expected Matthew Upson will partner skipper John Terry in central defence. There will be more debate over Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon, one of whom is likely to be asked to provide pace on the right flank now Theo Walcott has been ruled out. The other choice concerns the centre-forward position where Emile Heskey has been regarded as first choice. The veteran striker has not enjoyed the best start to the season with Aston Villa and Jermain Defoe's flying start at Tottenham may sway Capello.

Source: Daily_Mail