Filed under: Euro 2012, Football, England Football
England fans still sing about that famous night in Munich when "even Heskey scored". Hard to believe but come September it will be a decade since that 5-1 win over Germany.Easier to believe is the Three Lions failing to live up to the promise of that night over the next 10 years.
Hopes were raised before the last World Cup but now Fabio Capello, the manager who will leave after Euro 2012, is struggling to find a group of strikers to fill his squad ahead of the next week's qualifier with Switzerland.
Wayne Rooney is suspended, Andy Carroll is injured, as is Carlton Cole. The latest forward to pull out was Jermain Defoe, with a wrist injury.
"The Tottenham Hotspur striker, who scored a hat-trick in England's opening Euro 2012 qualifier back in September, will miss the game against Switzerland through injury," confirmed the Football Association, in a statement.
Darren Bent, Peter Crouch and Bobby Zamora are the remaining strikers in Capello's squad and the England manager does not have many options to call upon.
Daniel Sturridge is in top form, but also with the under-21s preparing for their European Championships in Denmark next month.
Capello has already asked Emile Heskey to come out of international retirement since he called it a day, only for the Aston Villa forward to turn him down.
Heskey and Michael Owen re-forming their Munich partnership would roll back the years for England. It would not be popular but a few more drop-outs and Capello will be scratching his head for his attacking combination.
If the Italian is going down that road, why not get the Class of 2001 back playing for England? David Beckham looked good in Gary Neville's Testimonial this week, and Neville himself could probably do a job a right-back still.
Let's take it further, dig out David Seaman's number and see if the man between the sticks against Germany fancies a game.
After all, Ben Foster and Paul Robinson have chosen not to represent their country, Robert Green is doing Capello a favour by turning up and David Stockdale is getting married instead of playing. In fact, Nick Barmby had a decent season in Hull's midfield if Capello wants to get the whole gang back together.
Seriously, this is fast becoming a problem for England. There could be a decent team put together from players retired from internationals or out of favour for whatever reason.
It reflects badly on Capello that players are not queuing up for a chance to prove themselves in an England shirt. It is now a regime which will be connected with failure and mismanagement.
Defoe pulling out with a wrist injury, which is believed to be fractured, shows how England is regarded now. It is difficult to imagine him declaring himself unavailable for a big game, for instance a Champions League final, more than a week before kick-off.
A few more players, surely, will pull out through injury between now and kick-off at Wembley. And Capello is the one to shoulder much of the blame, as it no longer seems to be the pinnacle for players to be named in the squad. A trip to the beach is more appealing.
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