With South Africa 2010 looming large, Wayne Rooney seems to be the only England striker who knows he will be in Fabio Capello's starting line up. The United man has been in sparkling form, surpassing his previous season best by 10 before the end of March. But with England prone as ever to the 4-4-2 formation, who is the best man to partner him up front? Here is the case for five Englishmen hoping to be on the pitch at Rustenburg to face the USA on the 12th of June:
Emile Heskey:
With 106 Premier League goals and 57 England caps to his name, the Villa striker certainly has the experience to start in South Africa. The often-maligned Leicester-born forward featured prominently in the qualifying campaign and was widely regarded as influential in Rooney's match winning performances. He provides a considerable amount of assists and helps open space for his strike partner (as was the case with Michael Owen in their Liverpool days and with England under Sven-Goran Eriksson) but his biggest stigma remains a lack of goals. With only seven for his country and averaging just five league goals in his last four seasons, the jury is still out on whether another, goal scoring target man could be the better choice. Cue...
Peter Crouch:
Well, we say a goal scoring target man. Despite netting twenty in thirty-seven England caps, Crouch has only found the net for Spurs six times in the league this season. However, he made a big impact in England's last match against Egypt and like Heskey, provides plenty of assists to his strike partners. Not as strong or pacy as other strikers, Crouch certainly has the skill and height to trouble defences and his impressive international record will stand him in good stead to make the starting line up in South Africa, but one of his Spurs colleagues will be hoping otherwise...
Jermain Defoe:
The diminutive Londoner is more of a natural finisher than Heskey or Crouch but if he's to play alongside Rooney then Capello will be making a big decision. Playing two small frontmen has never been popular in the world of football, and Argentina were much-derided in the South American qualifiers for the use of tiny trio Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi as a front three. Having said that, Rooney has developed his game this season, holding up the ball and scoring headers. Therefore it isn't completely impossible to see him acting as more of a target man with Defoe flaunting his pace and shooting ability alongside him. The striker can be erratic though, and while looking like a world class performer one week( the five goals against Wigan come to mind) he can then go a few games without catching the eye. He's enjoying his most successful season to date, with seventeen league goals, but that is three less than...
Darren Bent:
With twenty league goals, which would have been enough to win the golden boot in last season's Premier League, already in the bag, the former Spurs man must have his heart set on South Africa. Bent has excelled in an often struggling Sunderland side, netting against Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in the process. Clearly a big game player, the ex-Ipswich youngster has yet to show it for England with no goals and only five appearances since his debut against Uruguay back in 2006. He's experienced a major snub before when he was the highest scoring English player in the 2005-06 Premier League and still failed to make Sven's 2006 World Cup squad. He can't do a lot more to get in the England squad, but his place on the plane is far from certain, unlike...
Steven Gerrard:
The Liverpool skipper and England vice-captain hasn't been enjoying his best season but is a dead cert to be in South Africa. However, with Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard forming a solid partnership in the centre of midfield, and plenty of options for the wide berths, could Stevie G do a job for England up front? Playing in the hole behind Fernando Torres last season, Gerrard found his best form, netting sixteen times as Liverpool came agonisingly close to that long-awaited title. This year, with injuries playing a part and a poor squad around himself and Torres, the scouse hero has failed to regain his form of 08/09. But with Rooney establishing himself as an out and out striker, a system which sees the two Liverpudlian's dovetailing up front for the Three Lions could work out well for all parties. But with only a couple of friendlies left before it gets serious, Capello may well have left it too late to experiment...
The nation awaits until June the 12th to see Fabio's final frontmen...
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