With the keepers picked now, it’s the turn to look at the men in front of the goal keeper, the Defenders.  With the squad size of 23, I will pick 8 defenders that will help the England goal keeper keep a clean sheet. There is more choice to pick from which makes it a hard job for the England manager Fabio Capello but I will give it a shot and pick my 8 and hopefully it matches England manager’s defence.

The defenders that want to be on the plane to South Africa are:

So there are 22 candidates but with only 8 places, as you can see it is a tough job. One player who is certain to be on the plane to South Africa is the captain Rio Ferdinand.  Others that will join him are, former captain John Terry, Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole, the back four that I think will start at the World Cup. So that leaves 4 places, which I will pick players that, are versatile in different positions, like Wes Brown who can play centre back or right back, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards and Leighton Baines.

So the 8 defenders I have selected are:

Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Wes Brown, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards and Leighton Baines.

There are others players which were considered but did not make the grade in my selection due to injury concerns such as Gary Neville, Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate.

So we have our 3 Goal keepers and 8 defenders and now next week I will try to come up with the Midfield players that will want to play in the biggest tournament in football. What do you think of my selection of defenders? Would you pick anyone else, if so why?

I know some people may cite Jamie Carragher to be on that plane, but he hasn’t played with the current squad, so it is unlikely he will join the team up, and if he does, I can’t see him getting much game-time to be honest.

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