So, after the Japan - England game, I STILL haven't learned why Fabio Capello thinks that Emile Heskey is worthy to go to South Africa, or even to play up front with Rooney.
Yes, he was only on the field for about 10 minutes, but he had a glorious free header from a few yards out that any goal scoring striker would have scored. I have no doubts that if it was Michael Owen there instead of Heskey, then it would have been 3-1 to England and a relatively comfortable win in the bag. But no, he didn't score. Heskey didn't score. That is becoming a familiar phrase uttered by many disgruntled England fans. Me included.
The ITV commentator informed us that Heskey hasn't score for England for almost a year, and hasn't scored at all for anyone since February. This is a striker we are talking about. People can say how Rooney loves playing with him, and Rooney plays best with him, but I don't understand that either. Rooney seems to play pretty well anyway (understatement) but with Crouch there he doesn't do too badly either. At least Crouch scores!
A few months ago, when England were building up to the World Cup and had a few friendlies, Michael Owen was fit and able to be selected for England. Capello may not like him, but he was there and could have been tested, as an experiment. He has scored 49 goals for his country. He was proving at Manchester United at the time that he could still score vital goals at vital times. But no. Capello chose Heskey instead. Did he score? Figure it out.
I feel that no matter what happens, Capello will unfortunately bring Heskey to South Africa and play him with Rooney. For what reason? I don't know. Defoe, Crouch, Bent - all scored for fun for their clubs this season. All proved that thy can score goals - simple or difficult chances - they proved that they can take them. Heskey didn't.
However, the truth is, if Capello does bring Heskey, we, as England fans will have to support the decision, and support Heskey. The players need the country behind them. They need everyone and everything behind them, especially if they want to see the World Cup in front of them by the end of the summer.
