Decision made...now go and win it...

So it's been announced...England's 23-man squad for the World Cup finals. And obviously Fab and I (that's Mr Capello to you) had differing ideas of who should stay and who should go!

Walcott is the big surprise, especially as he was deemed good enough to go to Germany 4 years ago by Sven even though he had never played a Premier League game for Arsenal at the time. Now with 4 years playing experience behind him, the 'Fabster' thinks he's not quite making the grade. Personally he runs a bit hot and cold for me, but I probably would have had him on the bench instead of Mighty Mouse - Wright Phillips.

So how did my predictions fare? Bent, Huddlestone, Dawson, Warnock, Carrick, Milner, Heskey - Well only 3 out of my 7 got the red card, so pretty poorly if truth be told... We'll see who was right, I hope it's Capello!

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham).
Defenders: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).
Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City).
Forwards: Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

The players come from just 8 different teams, and all players play in the English Premier League. Spurs and Chelsea supply the most with four players each...

Aston Villa - 3
Chelsea - 4
Liverpool - 3
Manchester City - 3
Manchester Utd -3
Portsmouth - 1
Tottenham - 4
West Ham - 2

One thing to note - out of the supposed 'big 4', not one Arsenal player - Thanks for helping develop the English game Mr Wenger!

Japan 1 v England 2

So another apparently unconvincing performance by England, but I can't really comment on the game as I have yet to watch it (it's sat on the DVR waiting for me). But not that the result of these games matter because they are, after all, glorified experiments, but England have been winning ugly and that is good for confidence running into a big tournament.

The question now is who will make the plane? Capello says he already knows the 23 he will take, but do you? Here's my guess of the 7 that will get the dreaded phone call on Tuesday morning telling them to go enjoy the summer and go on holiday with the WAGs.

Bent, Huddlestone, Warnock, Carrick (if Barry is fit), Milner, Dawson, Heskey (I would send him home, but Rooney does play well with him, so he may stay for that reason...)

Joe Cole insists England having a successful World Cup is more important than his own battle to be part of the final squad. Cole is sweating on his place for South Africa but came off the bench as a second half substitute to set up the equaliser in today's 2-1 win over Japan in Austria. I would take Cole because he has World Cup experience, and he does have individual skills and trickery that England haven't really seen since Paul Gascoigne 10 or 15 years ago.

When asked about his selection, or non-selection Cole said: "Do I have any nerves? You've got to be pragmatic about it. I came here 10 days ago to try to enjoy my time back here, train well, and it's in the manager's hands about the squad. There are a lot of players who will be hoping, a lot of players have got a good case. But, whatever happens, we are all right behind England and hopefully this will be our time."

"Have I done enough? I don't want to go into that," he said. "I came here 10 days ago. I had a good finish to the season, I wasn't starting but I was having an impact coming off the bench. I came here and did my thing and I've enjoyed it because it has been such a long time. Croatia was my last game and I ended up with 10 stitches in my head. It is just nice to be back around the lads and it feels great."

Cole added: "I don't know what I will do on Tuesday. I've never been in this position. I don't know. It is a funny atmosphere. There is nothing you can do. We've done everything we can do, we've trained hard, everyone has had an excellent week's training and that's all you can do. I'll wake up, have my breakfast and there we go..."

Decision time nears for Capello

So there is one game left, and about 48 hours or so before Fabio Capello will make seven telephone calls to end the hopes of seven young men. According to the England manager he already knows 20 of the men he will be taking to South Africa.

"I more or less know," Capello said. "Not 23 but maybe 20. It will be disappointing when I have to tell some of the players that they must go home because all the players here have trained really well. I am really happy with their focus and the job they have done. But I have to choose."

The rest face Japan in Austria on Sunday knowing they have one last chance to shine and press their case for inclusion. The most likely candidates for the axe include Michael Dawson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Scott Parker. Tom Huddlestone and Darren Bent both start against Japan knowing a failure will probably end their hopes too.

Leighton Baines and Stephen Warnock are disputing the right to be Ashley Cole's understudy at left-back, while Joe Cole and Adam Johnson would appear to be scrapping over the remaining berth for left midfield, probably off the bench.

Interestingly Capello has said that he won't be consulting his captain or other experienced players when making his final selection. "No. I won't talk to the senior players," he said. "If I lose I want to know it has been because of my decisions." I like that - bravery - buck stops here...

As for Gareth Barry, we still wait and see..."Barry has improved a lot. The last news was good," said Capello. "But we have to wait and see what the doctor says. After that, we will know if he will be fit in a short time and ready to train with us, or whether he won't be ready.

"He has to be able to train normally the day after the first game. He is doing a lot of physiotherapy to get the movement going and is following what the doctor says. But I don't know if he is running yet."