Carragher, King get shock England call ups

Soccer: Jamie Carragher and Ledley King are the shock call-ups to England's provisional 30-man World Cup squad but there is …

Soccer:Jamie Carragher and Ledley King are the shock call-ups to England's provisional 30-man World Cup squad but there is no place for Manchester United's Owen Hargreaves.

Neither Carragher nor King has played a game for England under Capello, although the Tottenham man was called into the squad for a double header against Slovakia and the Ukraine last year, only to be left out days later because of fitness.

However, with doubts over Rio Ferdinand and John Terry, and Wes Brown and Joleon Lescott ruled out through injury, Capello has talked Carragher out of retirement and will have a look at the Liverpool man, plus King, who has just played four games in 15 days, before finalising his 23-man squad for South Africa.

It also emerged the controversial 'Capello Index' project has been shelved until after the World Cup.

READ MORE

The England coach created a storm of controversy by putting his name to the project just 24 hours before naming his provisional World Cup squad.

And, after a meeting between Capello and senior FA staff, the launch will be suspended until after the Finals.

"Fabio Capello's involvement has been purely as a technical expert to establish statistical criteria for the Index," a spokesmen for Capello outlined.

"He has not been directly involved in the online gaming element of the site.

"However, he wants to ensure that all appropriate protocols are in place before the project proceeds and has therefore decided today to postpone it."

At this stage it is not clear whether the project will go ahead as planned for the start of the new Premier League season in August.

However, at least by taking such decisive action, Capello has removed the potential for annoyance at ratings for his players appearing within two hours of a World Cup game.

Getting himself involved in the project at such a sensitive time does raise a question mark about Capello's judgement, especially as the financial benefit would come to a man who already pockets €7million-a-year as England coach.

The FA hierarchy were totally dumbfounded when they discovered Capello's involvement, and although the Italian did not immediately see a problem, it has quickly been pointed out to him.

The 'Capello Index' was depicted as the 63-year-old's individual analysis of matches being made public, when in actual fact that was not the case.

However, the perception was clear for everyone to see and the FA are desperate to avoid any allegation of disharmony in the England camp for what they view as totally unnecessary reasons.

Players are notoriously sensitive to their performances being marked and the fact their coach was putting his name to such assessments could only turn inflammatory at some stage.

In the 'Capello Index' player performances would be marked out of 100 - based on an analysis provided by the England chief.

Points are awarded depending on the area of the pitch players competed in and the importance of the match.

A four-week trial of the index, limited to players from Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool - rated Ledley King as the best English defender.

And Joe Cole was ranked as the third best midfielder, even though his place in Capello’s final squad is far from certain.

Provisional England World Cup Squad:

Goalkeepers:Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.

Defenders:Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.

Midfielders:Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Forwards:Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.