THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — With Gareth Barry among the England players in danger of missing the World Cup, one-time outsiders like Tom Huddlestone, Calgary-born Owen Hargreaves, Michael Dawson, Ledley King and the retired Jamie Carragher could win a place to go to South Africa.
A regular England starter, Barry has been ruled out for up to four weeks after damaging ankle ligaments in Wednesday’s Premier League loss to Tottenham.
England coach Fabio Capello has to select his provisional squad of 30 by Tuesday. Unable to add others before announcing his final squad of 23 by June 1, he now has to decide whether to include Barry.
Barry will miss England’s pre-World Cup friendlies against Mexico and Japan, plus the squad’s two training camps at altitude in Austria.
With Barry now a World Cup doubt, there was speculation Saturday that Tottenham’s Huddlestone and Manchester United’s Hargreaves could be called up.
Huddlestone’s goals and performances as a deep-lying midfielder have helped Spurs qualify for the Champions League. Hargreaves, however, has barely played in the past 20 months after four operations on his knee. But he was one of England’s best players at the last World Cup in 2006 and would be the ideal replacement in Barry’s position.
Most of Capello’s problems, however, concern his defenders.
Wes Brown and Joleon Lescott have been sidelined for the past few weeks, while Rio Ferdinand has missed many games for both Manchester United and England because of a persistent lower back problem.
The versatile and talented King would surely be in the squad if he did not have major knee problems that rule him out of regular training with Tottenham. Capello has to decide whether to risk a half-fit King.
"How a lad can not train but come out and play against top players as he has, I don’t know," Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said. "It’s defied all logic, it’s amazing. If that’s the way to do it, we’re wasting our time coming into training every day, we might as well all just turn up on Saturday.
"He’s a freak really, how he can do that."
King’s defensive partner at Tottenham, Dawson has also been in top form in recent weeks but has not yet played for England at senior level.
Several papers said Saturday that Carragher, who quit international football three years ago after being continually left out of the England starting lineup, might be persuaded to return.
The 32-year-old Carragher, who has played 34 internationals for England, can be used at fullback or centerback but he hasn’t played particularly well for Liverpool all season.
Capello’s other problems is the lack of a consistently reliable goalkeeper, and who, if anyone, to play alongside Wayne Rooney in attack.
Rooney appears to be back to fitness after ankle and groin problems and is a definite starter at the World Cup.
But Capello has several options as his strike partner, from the lanky Peter Crouch and solid Emile Heskey to the fast and slightly built Jermain Defoe and Theo Walcott — but only Defoe regularly starts for his club.
Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor and West Ham’s Carlton Cole have been called up regularly by Capello, while Sunderland’s Darren Bent and Fulham’s Bobby Zamora appear outsiders despite scoring freely all season.
Capello’s answer could be to use Rooney as a lone striker in front of five midfielders.
Despite the absence of David Beckham through injury, Capello has plenty of talent on the right side of midfield, several options on the left with Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and a defensive midfielder to use between them.
With the Premier League season ending on Sunday, Capello will be able to count up his fit and wounded players on Monday and hope that no more join the injury list in the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Portsmouth on May 15.