Reports of Peter Crouch England retirement amaze Sir Trevor Brooking
Sir Trevor Brooking has reacted with incredulity to the growing number of players who have decided not to make themselves available for England.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker Peter Crouch is believed to have decided he will not play for his country again until Fabio Capello is replaced as national manager, after growing disillusioned with life under the Italian. The Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson and the Manchester United defender Wes Brown retired at the start of this season and the Birmingham City goalkeeper Ben Foster is on a "sabbatical", to concentrate on his club career.
There have been even younger players who have turned their back on England, most notably the Tottenham winger David Bentley, who rejected the chance to play in the 2007 European Under-21 Championship.
Brooking, who is the Football Association's director of football development, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "No matter what people think about individuals, it is about playing for your country. You turn up regardless. I would have turned up if I was number 23 in the squad. We had one or two issues with age group teams. There appears to be a reluctance with one or two youngsters to get that tournament experience.
"I come from a generation where I couldn't even contemplate such a thing. I find it amazing. There are great rewards out there. You can become a multi-millionaire as a club player without playing international football. But international football is about individual pride and wanting to perform at the highest level. If I got picked at 41, I would have played, even if I thought I would make a fool of myself. I just wanted to play for my country."
Brooking is reluctant to write Crouch off and wants to wait for the full facts to emerge. However, the 30-year-old has not been one of Capello's preferred strikers. Crouch has started five games in Capello's 37-match reign and he did not make the bench for yesterday's 2-2 draw with Switzerland at Wembley, even though England had only three fit strikers.
Crouch has also been one of the team's most reliable goalscorers, scoring eight times under Capello, as part of an overall tally of 22 which puts him joint-16th on the all-time list. He went to last summer's World Cup in South Africa, where he made two brief substitute appearances.
With Liverpool's Andy Carroll and Manchester United's Wayne Rooney likely to be available for the August friendly against Holland, it seems Crouch was likely to be pushed further down the pecking order. However, if his international "break" is confirmed, it will raise further questions about Capello's handling of players, as well as reducing options in an area in which England are not particularly blessed anyway, given that Kevin Davies and Jay Bothroyd were both capped earlier this season.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/05/trevor-brooking-england
+14
Hernandez_14
Danny
easley91
Carlos Jenkinson
CollieBuddz
Laurencio
Barton
SpiritOfShankly
Theo Filippo
Kuled
Coatsy
lvrpl4life
Grenade
Childish Logic
18 posters
Peter Crouch to quit playing for England?
Guest- Guest
Guest- Guest
That would suck. I like Peter Crouch. When we played England he was a headache England wouldn't have won without him.
Childish Logic-
- Formerly known as : NZG
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Peter crouch plays for england???
Grenade-
- Formerly known as : grenade187
Posts : 9113
Age : 43
Win a kick about with Crouchy ant boys at Wembley
lvrpl4life-
- Posts : 832
Another England player spitting his dummy out over not getting playing time. He must think he deserves his place after his amazing display for Tottenham this season...
Theo Filippo-
- Formerly known as : Filippo Inzaghi
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SpiritOfShankly-
- Posts : 1149
Supports : Liverpool
Kuled wrote:Oh no
Contributes more than any of our other England strikers.
Barton-
- Formerly known as : JMB_94
Posts : 10066
Age : 30
You have to give him credit, the lanky bastard has a fantastic goalscoring record for England.
He's been shite for Spurs this season though, hasn't really earned his place.
He's been shite for Spurs this season though, hasn't really earned his place.
Laurencio-
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Been good for England, but considering everyone want the National Team to be made up by the best "in form" players rather than the "best reputation" ones I can't see how he's deserved a spot.
Guest- Guest
Oh well he encourages us to play football in the air. Shouldn't be anywhere near the squad, just like Carroll shouldn't be.
CollieBuddz-
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Age : 34
I wouldn't want to play under Capello either. If I got a call up from England, I'd go down there, deck Capello, and go home.
SpiritOfShankly-
- Posts : 1149
Supports : Liverpool
The Miz wrote:Oh well he encourages us to play football in the air. Shouldn't be anywhere near the squad, just like Carroll shouldn't be.
based on what? your opinion?
Carroll has earned his call up this season only english striker get more goals is Bent and Carroll has missed a big part of the season. Crouch hardly put a foot wrong playing for England.
Carlos Jenkinson-
- Posts : 10964
The Miz wrote:Oh well he encourages us to play football in the air. Shouldn't be anywhere near the squad, just like Carroll shouldn't be.
This
easley91-
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Location : Crawley
Supports : Tottenham, Crawley, Lesnar, Brewster, Coppell
To be fair to Crouch, he does have a great record for England. Yes, on form he didn't deserve the place in the starting line-up, but to not even be on the bench at least as a possible plan B? He would've given Young and other crossers of the ball an option and given the Swiss defence a problem. I don't like him quitting England, but it would prevent him from getting injured in the international breaks.
I don't get where Crouch = just hoofball comes from either to be honest. You obviously never watch full Tottenham matches. We mix it up a lot of the time, and to Crouch's credit he can control the ball well on the deck for such a lanky guy, better than Pavlyuchenko. Yes, when Crouch plays we do lift it up to him on occasion (why wouldn't you with him on the pitch?), but it's not constant for the whole entire match.
I don't get where Crouch = just hoofball comes from either to be honest. You obviously never watch full Tottenham matches. We mix it up a lot of the time, and to Crouch's credit he can control the ball well on the deck for such a lanky guy, better than Pavlyuchenko. Yes, when Crouch plays we do lift it up to him on occasion (why wouldn't you with him on the pitch?), but it's not constant for the whole entire match.
Carlos Jenkinson-
- Posts : 10964
In Tottenham matches someone long balls it to Crouch who heads it down for Pav/Defoe to score, that happens most of the time tbh
Danny-
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Location : Burscough
Don't see why Crouch is seemingly angry about being left out on Saturday.
Bent's started the last 2 or 3 England games, and scored in them. We weren't going to play 2 up front, I think it was pretty obvious that Crouch wouldn't start.
Bent's started the last 2 or 3 England games, and scored in them. We weren't going to play 2 up front, I think it was pretty obvious that Crouch wouldn't start.
Hernandez_14-
- Formerly known as : Braad
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ITS ABOUT TIME
easley91-
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Location : Crawley
Supports : Tottenham, Crawley, Lesnar, Brewster, Coppell
I'm not saying we don't do it, because we do. It's just we do a lot more than that when Crouch is playing. As soon as someone mentions Crouch playing in a match 'oh it's going to be a game of hoofball today'. Do you watch 90 minutes of Tottenham games or just go by the edited highlights? Seriously watch full games, and not just one, because that one we may not be able to break a defence down and go for that option instead.
Oh and you're wrong, it wasn't either Pav or Defoe, it was VDV.
Oh and you're wrong, it wasn't either Pav or Defoe, it was VDV.
Guest- Guest
29 league appearances, 4 goals.
36 league appearances, 17 goals.
Guess which one is Peter Crouch and which one is Darren Bent.
36 league appearances, 17 goals.
Guess which one is Peter Crouch and which one is Darren Bent.
easley91-
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Age : 33
Location : Crawley
Supports : Tottenham, Crawley, Lesnar, Brewster, Coppell
He was shit this season for us I'm not saying he was class, because he was far far from it (so were our other strikers) but you can't deny his goalscoring record for England. And you never know in any match whether a striker may score or not just because of his form. Bent on his from should've scored on Saturday but didn't.
Did Crouch deserve to play on Saturday? No. That's the truth, and I disagree with his decision if he does quit.
Did Crouch deserve to play on Saturday? No. That's the truth, and I disagree with his decision if he does quit.
Guest- Guest
Capello is stupid.
Crouch
---------Carrol
----------------
--------Carragher-----
That line up would win the WC for sure.
The other 8 players should be Barry type players.
Crouch
---------Carrol
----------------
--------Carragher-----
That line up would win the WC for sure.
The other 8 players should be Barry type players.
Sean-
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Age : 30
Fonseca wrote:In Tottenham matches someone long balls it to Crouch who heads it down for Pav/Defoe to score, that happens most of the time tbh
And thats a bad thing?
Carlos Jenkinson-
- Posts : 10964
Sean wrote:Fonseca wrote:In Tottenham matches someone long balls it to Crouch who heads it down for Pav/Defoe to score, that happens most of the time tbh
And thats a bad thing?
It doesn't win them or England anything which he promotes
Sean-
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Age : 30
If most of the time a players sets up a goal id say thats pretty good.
Jordi- .
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Crouchie.
Carlos Jenkinson-
- Posts : 10964
Sean wrote:If most of the time a players sets up a goal id say thats pretty good.
Are you seriously suggesting longballing is good? it gets outclassed by every major club/nation in the world