Hampshire Sport
Chamberlain could get England call
5:14pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012
Alex Chamberlain will find out tomorrow morning if he has won a call-up to the England squad.
The former Saints winger is rated as a live outsider to make the cut with under-21 boss Stuart Pearce in charge of the side until a permanent appointment is made.
Chamberlain has featured regularly in the Arsenal first team since making his switch from Saints.
Rio Ferdinand, Micah Richards and Michael Dawson will have more reason than most to be anxiously waiting for news of Pearce’s England squad to face Holland next Wednesday when it is announced tomorrow.
All three made fewer appearances during the Fabio Capello regime than might have been expected.
So, just over a fortnight after the Italian was swept out of office in the most dramatic of circumstances, they will discover whether anything has changed.
That Richards added just a single cap to his overall tally of 12 during Capello's near four-year stint in charge was most perplexing.
It seemed Capello never trusted Richards' defensive capabilities.
Nevertheless, half a game against France in November 2010 is scant reward for his efforts at Manchester City, where he was installed as skipper during Vincent Kompany's recent suspension.
Pearce knows all about Richards from the time they spent together with England's Under-21 squad, but then the same could also be said of Kyle Walker and Manchester United duo Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, who all started at right-back for the seniors under Capello, in addition to Liverpool's Glen Johnson, who has previously been thought of as first choice.
Both Ferdinand and Dawson were involved under Capello.
Indeed, the latter man replaced the former in South Africa when Ferdinand suffered the knee injury that ruled him out of a World Cup campaign for which he had been appointed captain.
However, Ferdinand's only call-up this season was for the postponed friendly with Holland in August that next week's game replaces and Capello seemed to have decided his fitness record was not good enough to merit further consideration.
The 33-year-old has featured in United's last four matches though. And with John Terry ruled out with a knee injury, Phil Jagielka sidelined by a hamstring complaint and Gary Cahill struggling for form since his transfer window move to Chelsea, Pearce may view Ferdinand's experience as a positive.
Dawson, meanwhile, has now recovered from the Achilles injury that forced him to miss four months of Tottenham's stellar season and will also hope to force his way into Euro 2012 contention.
Had Capello been picking this squad, youngsters such as Daniel Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Tom Cleverley would have more reason for optimism than Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Frank Lampard, none of whom seemed to be part of the Italian's overall strategy.
Given Pearce was part of that coaching team and has worked so much with the younger England players, an element of continuity is anticipated.
Yet, the entire occasion will be underpinned by the truth that, by Euro 2012, Harry Redknapp could well be in charge and he may bring a different philosophy completely.
Beyond that, should, for some reason, Redknapp end up not taking the job, Pearce would become a live candidate, therefore throwing a load of kids to a Wembley slaughter against the World Cup finalists would not do his job prospects much good.
It is one of the reasons why, if he is confirmed as skipper tomorrow, Steven Gerrard will only be handed the job for a single game even though he would appear to be the perfect replacement for Terry, whose clash with Anton Ferdinand at Loftus Road in October triggered the whole earthquake that caused Capello's regime to collapse.
Of the players not previously used by Capello, it would appear only Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley and Chamberlain have a realistic chance of being involved.