England door open for Matt Jarvis
Monday 28th March 2011, 2:03PM BST.
Fabio Capello today left the door open for Matt Jarvis to become the first Wolves ace to play for England in more than 20 years.
Capello wants to see his fringe players in action against Ghana at Wembley tomorrow and could hand the winger his international bow.
The national boss has appointed former Villa midfielder Gareth Barry as captain, after releasing John Terry from the squad, and also confirmed several of tomorrow’s starters.
Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines, Joe Hart and Andy Carroll will start but Jarvis must wait to find out if he will emulate Steve Bull, the last Wolves man to pull on the Three Lions shirt.
Capello said: “It will be interesting for the fans to see some of the players who they don’t know very well. I respect the fans.
“It will be interesting for me as well because these players have stayed with me for a week or 10 days and it’s important for them to understand the spirit of the team.”
Jarvis was left out of the squad who won 2-0 in their Euro 2012 qualifier at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
On Barry, Capello said: “He’s a good player, a good captain. He’s also the player with the most England caps.”
Capello also revealed Scott Parker would keep his place in midfield if the West Ham captain was fit.
He said: “If Parker is fit he will play. He’s got some little problem but I hope he will be fit.”
Capello has been accused of inconsistency, after claiming he did not think it was right to inform Rio Ferdinand he had lost the captain’s armband by telephone, only for Steven Gerrard to admit yesterday he had been called by the Italian to discuss the issue.
When asked about it today, the England boss said: “Rio was the captain, Steve was the vice-captain. I hope that over the next few weeks I will meet with Ferdinand.”
On being named captain, Barry said: “It’s obviously going to be a massive moment in my career, a proud one. I’ll be the same player as I always am.
“You don’t put the armband on and change.”
UK Sport
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