Thaindian News

London, Oct.15 (ANI): England football team coach Fabio Capello has refused to guarantee Tottenham striker Peter Crouch a place in his World Cup squad despite the striker’s latest two-goal blast.

Crouch took his England tally to a remarkable 18 goals in 35 games to destroy Belarus, a scoring spree that is better than any other player chasing a place on the plane to South Africa next year.

Yet, Capello still refused to sing Crouch’s praises and made it clear he remains unconvinced.

The Sun quoted him as saying: “I know Crouch very well and I know the other players very well. He is just one part of the squad. I know Crouch’s numbers. He scores a lot of goals. But I don’t like to speak about one single player. I always like to speak about the team. I have a style I want to play in certain games and I know the players who will be on the pitch.”

Crouch has started in just three of Capello’s 20 matches as England boss - and scored in all of them.

Crouch admitted: “I don’t expect to start the next game. That’s up to the manager. But whenever I come in I feel I do a job and don’t let anyone down, so hopefully I’ll get a game.”

“Personally, I was pleased to get a couple of goals. Have I given the manager a bit of food for thought? Yes. All I can do when given an opportunity is to try to take it,” he added.

The win in the final Group Six qualifier means Capello has now won 15 of his 20 games in charge.

England finished with 27 points from their 10 qualifiers, sharing 34 goals among 12 different scorers. (ANI)