Post by Scott on Jun 24, 2006 1:02:10 GMT
From The Independent:
Michael Carrick has served his time in the training ground shadow XI, twiddled his toes by the swimming pool and idled away the hours with his family in the genteel spa town. Tomorrow he becomes a World Cup footballer. Sven Goran Eriksson has taken some punts in his time and the selection of Carrick against Ecuador is up there with the best of them.
As the Swedish maestro taps the rostrum and calls the orchestra to attention for what could be the last time, the music, as Eriksson is fond of saying, has been changed again. Tomorrow, the 4-4-2 formation has morphed into 4-1-4-1, but instead of Owen Hargreaves in the holding role, it is Carrick - the man who appeared to have fluffed his lines against Belarus in the B international in May and seemed condemned to a World Cup among the non-playing tourists.
Consider Carrick's England record. The 24-year-old has five full caps, three as a substitute, with almost four years between his first two, against Mexico and the Netherlands in 2001, and his third, against America on last summer's tour. He has never figured in a competitive game for England and not played a minute of this World Cup finals.
That is not the only tremor that is set to ripple through Eriksson's first XI, as Steven Gerrard comes back into a five-man midfield and Hargreaves switches to right-back at the expense of Jamie Carragher. It is dreadfully harsh on the Liverpool man, who has performed admirably in a position with which, in club football, he has become increasingly less familiar. Rio Ferdinand is expected to be passed fit in time but Carragher could yet get a reprieve if his groin injury fails to subside.
It is a bold hand that Eriksson plays as he enters the last uncertain phase of life in a Football Association suit. Carrick's pedigree in the Premiership is not in doubt but there has been no suggestion since England arrived in Germany that he was being saved for a special occasion or a specific match. He simply appeared to have lost the trust of Eriksson who, against Hungary three weeks ago, placed Carragher and Hargreaves ahead of him in the holding role pecking order.
The England support in Stuttgart tomorrow will hope that Carrick has, at long last, shown Eriksson more than a glimpse in training that he is the man to solve the conundrum of Gerrard and Frank Lampard's apparent incompatibility. They may fear that this is a manager who, having exhausted all his options, is hunting back through his discarded formations in the hope of an old idea that may warrant a revival.
This is an astonishing opportunity for Carrick, a quiet, likeable Geordie who has been pursued by Manchester United this summer. If he makes this extravagantly talented midfield tick then his effect on the tournament will be profound. It is a dangerous comparison to make but in 1966 it was also the third different formation that Alf Ramsey selected, for England's fourth game, the quarter-final against Argentina, that proved his winning combination.
Michael Carrick has served his time in the training ground shadow XI, twiddled his toes by the swimming pool and idled away the hours with his family in the genteel spa town. Tomorrow he becomes a World Cup footballer. Sven Goran Eriksson has taken some punts in his time and the selection of Carrick against Ecuador is up there with the best of them.
As the Swedish maestro taps the rostrum and calls the orchestra to attention for what could be the last time, the music, as Eriksson is fond of saying, has been changed again. Tomorrow, the 4-4-2 formation has morphed into 4-1-4-1, but instead of Owen Hargreaves in the holding role, it is Carrick - the man who appeared to have fluffed his lines against Belarus in the B international in May and seemed condemned to a World Cup among the non-playing tourists.
Consider Carrick's England record. The 24-year-old has five full caps, three as a substitute, with almost four years between his first two, against Mexico and the Netherlands in 2001, and his third, against America on last summer's tour. He has never figured in a competitive game for England and not played a minute of this World Cup finals.
That is not the only tremor that is set to ripple through Eriksson's first XI, as Steven Gerrard comes back into a five-man midfield and Hargreaves switches to right-back at the expense of Jamie Carragher. It is dreadfully harsh on the Liverpool man, who has performed admirably in a position with which, in club football, he has become increasingly less familiar. Rio Ferdinand is expected to be passed fit in time but Carragher could yet get a reprieve if his groin injury fails to subside.
It is a bold hand that Eriksson plays as he enters the last uncertain phase of life in a Football Association suit. Carrick's pedigree in the Premiership is not in doubt but there has been no suggestion since England arrived in Germany that he was being saved for a special occasion or a specific match. He simply appeared to have lost the trust of Eriksson who, against Hungary three weeks ago, placed Carragher and Hargreaves ahead of him in the holding role pecking order.
The England support in Stuttgart tomorrow will hope that Carrick has, at long last, shown Eriksson more than a glimpse in training that he is the man to solve the conundrum of Gerrard and Frank Lampard's apparent incompatibility. They may fear that this is a manager who, having exhausted all his options, is hunting back through his discarded formations in the hope of an old idea that may warrant a revival.
This is an astonishing opportunity for Carrick, a quiet, likeable Geordie who has been pursued by Manchester United this summer. If he makes this extravagantly talented midfield tick then his effect on the tournament will be profound. It is a dangerous comparison to make but in 1966 it was also the third different formation that Alf Ramsey selected, for England's fourth game, the quarter-final against Argentina, that proved his winning combination.
