Day Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor has replaced Darren Bent in England's squad after the Tottenham striker limped out of training on Tuesday. Bent was only drafted into the squad following Saturday's 4-0 win over Slovakia after goalscorer Emile Heskey damaged his hamstring in the match. Carlton Cole, who replaced Heskey on Saturday, had be substituted himself later in the game and also misses Wednesday's World Cup qualifier with Ukraine through injury. However, with Bent hobbling out of training with a knee injury, head coach Fabio Capello has now turned to Villa marksman Agbonlahor. The 22-year-old, who has two England caps to his name, has been in fine form for Villa this season, but has scored just once in his last 13 Premier League outings. "[bent's] injured. He has some problems with his knee tendon. He tried to stay here but after the warm-up there was a problem," Capello told Sky Sports News. "I decided to change the players. We decided to chose Agbonlahor for the next game. He's trained over the past two weeks very well. We chose him for this." With England's forward line severely disrupted ahead of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine, Capello has confirmed Peter Crouch will start the match. "My first idea was to have a forward who was fast with great movement. Now we have another style with Crouch," he added. Best striker available "Crouch is in good form. He's a different style. He's not Bent or Heskey, but we have to play Crouch because he is the best striker I can put in the starting XI." With Agbonlahor getting the nod ahead of Newcastle's Michael Owen further questions will be raised as to whether the 89-cap 40-goal striker still has an international future. However, Capello has reiterated his stance that the door of opportunity to win caps under his tenure is not closed for anyone and that he has not been included due to a lack of match sharpness. "In previous interviews I said the door for all the England players is open and I have chosen Agbonlahor because he's played a lot of games."[url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12098_5125602,00.html]http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12098_5125602,00.html Martin O'Neill won't be pleased, with Heskey already getting injured in a pointless friendly I think he'd go loop the loop if Agbonlahor was to come on and get injured playing tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perky1106 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 'Bout time! He's a brilliant player and with the right motivation he'll be doing important things for England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 He would be in my team aswell but you have to feel sorry for Villa /ohmy Foster Cole Terry Ferdinand Johnson Young Carrick Gerrard Wright Phillips Rooney Agbonlahor Tell the FA I'm interested in the job when fabio quits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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