Capello Facing Goalkeeping Dilema As James and Foster Head For Surgery

Portsmouth caretaker manager Paul Hart yesterday confirmed that David James will have surgery this week on his left shoulder. This rules the goalkeeper out of England’s end of season World Cup Qualifiers against Andorra and Kazakhstan.

The goalkeeper missed the game against Sunderland last night after having played every minute so far this season and is believed to have been troubled by this shoulder issue for the past 18 months. The decision has been made to operate on the problem now in an effort to be fully fit for the start of next season.

The news will come as a blow to England manager Fabio Capello, as it was only yesterday that Manchester United confirmed that Ben Foster would also miss the summer internationals after also opting for surgery on a long-standing thumb complaint.

James had started all 13 of Capello’s games in charge up until this point but now the Italian will be forced into fielding a replacement for his No. 1.

Foster was known to have impressed Capello in his infrequent displays for Manchester United and recently appeared as a half-time substitute for James in the friendly win over Slovakia in March.

Robert Green is the favourite to stand in for James in the qualifiers as he was named alongside James and Foster in the most recent England squad. The West Ham ‘keeper appeared as a half-time substitute in England’s loss in Spain in February and has only one other cap to his name, won back in 2005 and also as a substitute.

Capello’s other options include Wigan’s Chris Kirkland but he missed last weekend’s game after an injury forced him off at West Brom the previous week. Another would be Joe Hart but the young ‘keeper has not played since Shay Given’s arrival at Manchester City in the January transfer window.

Scott Carson and Paul Robinson are likely to be the other names in contention. However, Robinson has yet to play under Capello and Carson has not appeared since his mix up with John Terry gifted Germany a goal in last November’s international friendly in Berlin.

Capello might consider himself fortunate because the injuries come at a decent time for England. A home tie against Andorra will not exactly be the most taxing of games and while the away trip to Kazakhstan should be trickier, England will still be expected to win comfortably.

Capello is perhaps lucky that England’s lack of depth in the goalkeeping department has not been exposed at a time when they face more crucial games.

England travel to Almaty to take on Kazakhstan on Saturday, June 6 before hosting Andorra at Wembley on Wednesday, June 10. Both matches are World Cup Qualifiers.