Posted November 10, 201113 yr A number of our players will be involved in this one to some degree or another and I for one am looking forward to it massively. I'm not really into the international scene but personally think we (England) will get spanked but it's football and anything can happen ;-) Here a latest preview that also talks about Frank captaining England not JT: Spain attacker Juan Mata is looking forward to facing a number of Chelsea team-mates in an international friendly with England at Wembley. The 23-year-old has been superb for the Blues since his off-season move from Valencia and could feature on Saturday against club mates Frank Lampard, who is set to captain England, and Daniel Sturridge who earned his first squad selection. "I have already joked about the game with Lampard and (John) Terry and we'll do it more often as the game gets closer," Mata said. "For them (England) it's quite an incentive to play against the world champions and for us to play against England in their home." "I have not been to the old or new Wembley. The new one is really nice and a game against England on the mythical pitch, I'm sure it will be a great clash." Another of Mata's team-mates, Terry, looks likely to miss the Spain friendly with the investigation into his alleged racial abuse of QPR's Anton Ferdinand ongoing. Terry has been included in Fabio Capello's 25-man squad with the Italian seemingly adamant to start him for the Sweden friendly at Wembley three days later. With Terry's expected absence, Capello may look to Joleon Lescott to deputise in the heart of England's defence with the former Everton man in fine form for English Premier League leaders Manchester City this season. Phil Jagielka's withdrawal from the squad with a toe injury poses a further headache in defence if Capello is to leave Terry out of the starting line-up and Micah Richard's omission, despite his superb form for City, poses more questions than answers. Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young will both miss out through injury while Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has also been omitted. Spain, on the other hand, have named a full-strength squad, with talisman Andreas Iniesta recalled having missed the world and European champions' matches with the Czech Republic and Scotland in Euro 2012 qualifiers last month because of a hamstring injury. Iniesta scored the winner in a 1-0 friendly victory over England at Old Trafford in 2007, a victory that kick-started a 35-game unbeaten sequence for Spain. With an embarrassment of riches, manager Vincente Del Bosque has also included Iniesta's Barcelona team-mate Cesc Fabregas, recalled Sevilla winger Jesus Navas and included Malaga full-back Nacho Monreal for his debut. What part Fernando Torres plays for Spain is anyone's guess with the Chelsea forward's form indifferent again this season. He has scored four times in 12 appearances for the Blues and just once for the national team from seven appearances in 2011. Barcelona front man David Villa will most likely get the nod ahead of Torres although he has hardly been in imperious form himself with a modest (by Barcelona's standards) seven goals in 17 appearances for the Catalan club this season. In what looms as one of the highlights of this weekend's international calendar, both teams go into the clash having topped their respective groups in qualifying for Euro 2012, with Spain's record unblemished from eight matches, while England won five and drew three.
November 11, 201113 yr Agbonglahor to partner Bent in attack. If I wasn't concerned about how this affected Studge, I'd be glad for Gabby. I think he has been criminally underrated by England over the last couple of years.
November 11, 201113 yr Agbonglahor to partner Bent in attack. If I wasn't concerned about how this affected Studge, I'd be glad for Gabby. I think he has been criminally underrated by England over the last couple of years. Agbonlahor has gone back to Villa with an injury
November 11, 201113 yr Agbonlahor has gone back to Villa with an injury I just saw that. Feel bad for him, but good news for Danny.
November 12, 201113 yr Starting lineups: -----------------------Hart Johnson----Jagielka-----Lescott-----Cole ---------------Parker-------Jones ----Walcott-------Lampard------Milner ----------------------Bent ----------------------Casillas Arbeloa------Ramos-------Pique------Alba -------------Busquets-------Alonso -------Iniesta---------Xavi---------Silva ------------------------Villa We've got Cole and Lampard (as captain) starting for England, with Terry and Sturridge on the bench. We have Torres and Mata on the bench for Spain.
November 12, 201113 yr Lampard has been superb this first half, England started well defensively but were starting to wear down a bit in the first half. If John doesn't come on I hope they don't score for his sake, it'll just give the media an excuse to blame him for everything. I think Sturridge might be in a chance for getting on, maybe for Walcott, as he can break with pace and doesn't mind coming deep to get the ball.
November 12, 201113 yr Yeah, Sturridge is a better bet than Bent in terms of getting in behind Spain's back four, but I'm not entirely sure where Capello expects the service to come from. To be honest if England had Rooney (or even Scholes) they'd be in with a better chance.
November 12, 201113 yr Not sure why Torres was being booed.. What's he done to deserve that? Anyway, reasonable win in the end, certainly Spain are miles better than us though and we were defending for most of the match.
November 12, 201113 yr Not sure why Torres was being booed.. What's he done to deserve that? Anyway, reasonable win in the end, certainly Spain are miles better than us though and we were defending for most of the match. Plays for us, left the best team in the history of the world Liverpool, etc. Since I'm not really an English fan, I wanted Mata to put Torres through at the end for an equalizer. Also, thoughts on Capello skipping his son's wedding for this game? The kid probably should have picked another date, but still. Maybe leave your assistants in charge for this friendly and go see your son get married? Edited November 12, 201113 yr by ace
November 12, 201113 yr Thought torres played well when he came on. Frank put in a good shift. Shame danny didn't get a game.
November 12, 201113 yr The boo'ing of Torres was cringeworthy, how can those who did not feel embarrassed? Just lucky it's not on a school night. Sooooopa, Soopa Frank!! In his Superman pose too. Legend. Edited November 12, 201113 yr by Gem
November 12, 201113 yr tomorrow back page headlines i reckon will be, "Terry future in double as England keep clean sheet".
November 13, 201113 yr You know if Gerrard had scored that goal. There would be calls for Terry to be gotten rid of as captain and a big headline on the back page of the Mail 'Captain Fantastic does it again!'. But because it was Frank, people will say it was a tap-in only in a friendly.
November 13, 201113 yr Obviously Spain weren't playing at their best but it does sort of illustrate how important Messi is for Barcelona. Without him they seem to run out of ideas against a compact and organised defence, even if they're not made up of the best players. They looked really desperate after England went 1-0 up and genuinely couldn't break them down. Contrast with the CL final and how often Barca took United apart (with a vastly superior defence on paper).
November 13, 201113 yr Great result for England against the European & World champions. Technically,they were superior,there's no argument about that & the way they play as a team when not in possesion of the ball is a lesson for England. There always seams to be a player avaliable for the pass when they have the ball(& they pass it well) & they hunt in packs for it when they don't. Still a cynical bunch of fouling/divers though!. Well chuffed for Lamps to score as captain,but gutted that we didn't make a bid for Parker at Chelsea when we had the chance. His gutsy,determined & tireless effort on the night was a credit to him,the team & a sign of what he brings to a football club.
November 13, 201113 yr You know if Gerrard had scored that goal. There would be calls for Terry to be gotten rid of as captain and a big headline on the back page of the Mail 'Captain Fantastic does it again!'. But because it was Frank, people will say it was a tap-in only in a friendly. I was not surprised how quickly the commentator was to say " it would have gone in anyway"
November 13, 201113 yr I was not surprised how quickly the commentator was to say " it would have gone in anyway" The ITV commentator took it even further. "Lampard stole the goal from Darren Bent", he said. It was incredible how much effort he put into avoiding giving Frank Lampard any credit.
November 13, 201113 yr "Cesc Fabregas has shrugged off Spain's defeat to England, insisting his side played the more eye-catching football and deserved better against their negative opponents." Hmmm, where have I heard that one before? And where does Fabregas play club football at now? Interesting...
November 13, 201113 yr The ITV commentator took it even further. "Lampard stole the goal from Darren Bent", he said. It was incredible how much effort he put into avoiding giving Frank Lampard any credit. Not Tyldesley, surely? Have there been any headlines of this ilk?; TERRY-FREE ENGLAND SMASH WORLD CHAMPIONS
November 13, 201113 yr The ITV commentator took it even further. "Lampard stole the goal from Darren Bent", he said. It was incredible how much effort he put into avoiding giving Frank Lampard any credit. Haha indeed, that little quote had me off my chair screaming at the television, fuming!
November 13, 201113 yr The ITV commentator took it even further. "Lampard stole the goal from Darren Bent", he said. It was incredible how much effort he put into avoiding giving Frank Lampard any credit. S'what I thought, if Lamps had hit the shot and Bent had got the rebound, how different it would've been.
