Tottenham's Jermaine Jenas has been called into the England squad for Wednesday's friendly against the Czech Republic following the withdrawal of Michael Carrick, who hobbled off at Old Trafford yesterday with an ankle injury which will rule him out for up to three weeks.
Jenas broke his scoring duck for England in Fabio Capello's first game in charge, against Switzerland, and the Italian would have been impressed with the improvement of the midfielder's performances under the Spurs manager, Juande Ramos, which has seen him become vice-captain at White Hart Lane.
The squad will train at London Colney this morning ahead of their final match before next month's qualifiers, against Andorra and Croatia, with the Wigan Athletic striker Emile Heskey back. The 30-year-old, a regular in Sven-Goran Eriksson's side with five goals in his 45 international appearances, last represented England against Russia last September and is one of only three out-and-out forwards.
Capello will have been encouraged to learn that Wayne Rooney, recovered from a virus picked up in pre-season, played 90 minutes for Manchester United in their 1-1 draw with Newcastle. Franco Baldini, his assistant, attended that match, with Carrick's injury prompting the only omission from the squad. "Michael Carrick hurt an ankle, which has swollen up badly," said United's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. "He'll be out for two to three weeks."
The most notable omission was the Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch, who left Liverpool this summer in the hope of furthering his England prospects and boasts 14 goals in 28 internationals. Capello, however, offered the discarded striker some words of encouragement over the weekend. Asked whether he was pleased the 27-year-old would now feature more regularly at club level, he said: "I'm happy for Crouch because now he can play more games. If a player plays only one game a month, it's not enough."
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