CAPELLO TO PUT PACE ON TRIAL

England manager Fabio Capello is
expected to put pace on trial against Belarus this evening by selecting
Aaron Lennon, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Shaun Wright-Phillips in a highly
experimental line-up.

Denied the services of Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard for the
Three Lions' final World Cup qualifier, Capello, perhaps mindful that
England could play as few as three friendlies before he has to name his
squad for South Africa, is set to unleash a number of fringe players.
Whether they are being put on trial or being a given an opportunity to
impress is a matter for personal opinion.
While the selection of Agbonlahor, out of favour after a
disappointing outing against Spain earlier this year, in a 4-4-2
formation had been widely foreseen, the surprise is the prediction that
Wright-Phillips will start ahead of James Milner and that Agbonlahor
will be partnered by Peter Crouch rather than Emile Heskey. The
Tottenham striker is said to have impressed Capello during training
this week. Nor has change been consigned to attack. Ben Foster, thought to
have fallen a long way down the England goalkeeper pecking order
following his calamitous start to the season in goal for Manchester
United, is the reported replacement for the suspended Robert Green
while Wayne Bridge will be given a rare outing at left-back. Gareth Barry is also expected to start ahead of Michael Carrick
but Rio Ferdinand will retain his place alongside John Terry in the
centre of defence. Had Ferdinand played well against Ukraine, it was
highly likely that he would have been rested. Instead, in a quirk of
rationality, his high-profile errors have effectively handed him a
second opportunity to reassure the England manager that he is not on
the wane.

England's Probable Line-Up
Foster; Johnson, Terry, Ferdinand, Bridge; Lennon, Barry, Lampard, Wright-Phillips/Milner; Crouch, Agbonlahor.