John Terry the Chelsea centre-half was sensationally stripped of the England captaincy by manager Fabio Capello after the defender was apparently involved in an affair with a French model and girlfriend of ex-Chelsea team mate Wayne Bridge. Terry will be replaced as captain by Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand.
The “scandal” has been made potentially worse by the fact that current Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole recently suffered a broken ankle in an innocuous-looking challenge from Landon Donovan against Everton. Nothing remarkable about that until you realise that England second-choice left back is none other than Wayne Bridge himself, now of high-spending Manchester City.
This raises the question of whether Capello will want to pair the two together as he continues preparations for the World Cup in South Africa which starts in June, or indeed whether Bridge will want to play alongside John Terry.
On a brighter note for Capello, Wayne Rooney continued his impressive form netting two goals for Manchester United in a 3-0 victory over West Ham, bringing his season’s tally to twenty-seven in all competitions. Let’s hope his form doesn’t peak too early!
United’s other goal was scored by ex-England golden boy Michael Owen who recently expressed his virtual “resignation” to not being picked for the finals in South Africa as he has not been able to hold down a regular place in United’s forward line this season. Mr. Capello has already been quoted as saying that he will “not take players who are not playing and scoring regularly” for their club side to the finals, the first to be held on the African continent. This would seem to be a reasonable policy until you realise that perhaps England possess no one better than Owen to partner Rooney up front for England at the tournament. Only time will tell!
