Should Fabio Capello Tempt Paul Scholes with a World Cup Recall?

With the 2010 World Cup now just five weeks away, England manager Fabio Capello is expected to name his provisional squad for the tournament next Tuesday.

The Italian has already divulged that this squad will compromise 30 players of which 23 will eventually be selected to travel to South African in a couple of week’s time after the final preparation games have been played.

Young and in-form players like Adam Johnson and Michael Dawson are being tipped for a late call-up but one man who would undoubtedly make any list of the 23 most talented English players definitely won’t be there: Paul Scholes.

The Manchester United veteran is enjoying something of a renaissance in the twilight of his career, flourishing in a rich vein of form in the title run in.

The most obvious example of this was three weeks ago in the Manchester derby when Scholes not only popped up with a pinpoint header in the dying seconds of injury time to revive the title race, but also demonstrated that his range and accuracy of passing remains as marvellous as ever.

Gary Neville made arguably his most uncontroversial statement of the past few years when he declared after the final whistle that Scholes had “passed them to death from the first minute until the last.”

Scholes’ international career finished six years ago when he retired after Euro 2004, aged 29 with 66 caps and 14 goals to his name.

The midfielder was believed to be disillusioned at being played out of position on the left-hand side of midfield and keen to spend more time with his family during international breaks whilst also seeking to prolong his career at club level at Old Trafford.

Steve McClaren was reported to have attempted to persuade Scholes out of retirement when he took over as England manager in 2006 but Scholes stuck to his decision.

It is not known for sure whether Fabio Capello has considered the prospect let alone broached it with the player but given his current form it would be surprisingly if the thought hadn’t at least crossed the Italian’s mind.

But what exactly could the 35-year old Scholes offer England now?

For a start Scholes would bring a wealth of experience to the squad. He has won everything there is to win in the club game and has seen it all.

However, even with injury ruling out his most experienced player, David Beckham, Capello’s squad is hardly short of experience.

Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, and Rio Ferdinand all have 75 caps or more and are amongst the top 20 most capped England players of all time.

Not far behind them are John Terry, Wayne Rooney, and Emile Heskey who all have at least 55 caps.

All have major tournament experience with England and have either won or played in major European finals at club level alongside boasting the proverbial shedload of domestic silverware.

What would be more altogether more appealing to Capello would be Scholes’ continued distinction with the ball at his feet.

The recent win over Manchester City was not the only occasion in which the midfielder has impressed with his passing abilities. Indeed, since the turn of the year he boasts a pass completion rate of 91 percent and the most recent game against Sunderland represented the only time this rate had dropped below 88 percent for an individual game in 2010.

England’s ability to maintain possession at the very highest level has always been their Achilles heel and a weakness that Capello has been eager to rectify.

Scholes would certainly aid England in both the quantity and quality of possession which they would enjoy but on the flip side the team would lose certain mobility with the 35-year-old in the middle of the park, without bargaining with the fact that Scholes veers from notoriously unreliable to downright reckless in the tackle.

The breaking news of Garth Barry’s ankle injury ruling him out for a month brings another dimension to the argument.

It is unlikely that Capello would ever consider Scholes as a straight replacement for Barry in his starting XI.

Whilst Scholes doesn’t have the legs to go box-to-box and score double figures like years gone by he does not offer the same defensive skills that Barry brings to his partnership with Frank Lampard in the middle of the park.

In all likelihood Capello would opt for Scholes’ club teammate Michael Carrick as the straight replacement if Barry were not deemed fit enough to travel to South Africa.

This would, however, free up another place for a central midfielder in his final squad and it remains a position in which England are not particularly well blessed at this stage in time.

Scott Parker and Lee Cattermole are arguably the only tenacious, tough-tackling English midfielders out there but neither has ever previously been selected by the England manager.

Tom Huddlestone made his debut in the friendly against Brazil last November and could find himself the chief beneficiary of any doubt over Barry’s fitness.

Any talk of a recall for Scholes remains hypothetical for now and such a move would be without precedent in English football but there are other examples of the situation elsewhere in international football, although admittedly within a much shorter timeframe given that Scholes retired from national duty six years ago.

The most notable example would be Henrik Larrson who returned not only once but twice from international retirement to take part in Euro 2004 and then Euro 2008 having previously retired on both occasions.

Luis Figo called time on his Portugal career after losing the final of Euro 2004 but was eventually tempted back just over a year later to complete the second half of the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram, and Claude Makelele all famously returned to the French national side for the final three World Cup qualifiers in 2005 after calling time on their international careers post-Euro 2004. Les Bleus lead by a revitalised Zidane lost only on penalties in the 2006 World Cup final.

England and Capello could only hope that such a return from Scholes would provide similar results for the Three Lions in South Africa this summer.