Foster for England!! Ben starts for England!! England v Spain: Wednesday, 7 February (2000 GMT) Live on BBC One, BBC Five Live and coverage on the BBC Sport website Foster will make his debut at the home of his parent club Man Utd Ben Foster has been handed an England debut in the friendly against Spain. The Watford goalkeeper will start behind a defence featuring Jonathan Woodgate and Phil Neville at left-back. Wayne Rooney was not considered fit for selection and Aaron Lennon has been sent home with a stomach bug, so Shaun Wright-Phillips starts on the right. Liverpool's Peter Crouch will lead the line, with support from Kieron Dyer and an attack-minded midfield that includes Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. Michael Carrick will anchor the midfield and is one of just four survivors from the team that drew against Holland in November, along with Gerrard, Lampard and Rio Ferdinand. Foster, who is on loan at the Hornets from Manchester United, has been given his chance as boss Steve McClaren wants Paul Robinson's understudies to gain exposure to international football. The 23-year-old has jumped ahead of Scott Carson in the queue to challenge Spurs stopper Robinson and was also helped by Chris Kirkland pulling out of the squad with a shoulder injury. McClaren described the Old Trafford game as the "perfect opportunity" to blood Foster. 606: DEBATE I never thought I'd say this, but I almost want this team to get embarrassed and lose convincingly RC 606: Have your say Wayne Bridge's absence through injury was expected to offer Gareth Barry the chance of a starting spot at left-back after a four-year international exile. But McClaren has opted to pick players in their club positions and Phil Neville won the vote, with Barry touted for a role on the left of midfield in the latter part of the game. It means the Neville brothers, with Gary recalled at right-back, will start in the same England team for the first time since Kevin Keegan's side crashed out of Euro 2000 to Romania. Middlesbrough centre-back Woodgate, who will partner former Leeds team-mate Ferdinand in the heart of the defence, earns his first cap since he lined up against Sweden in March 2004. While Dyer, who will win his 29th cap, has not played for his country since turning out in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan in March 2005. The Magpies midfielder could play as a support striker to Crouch or on the left of an attacking trio in a 4-3-3 formation, with Wright-Phillips on the right. Rooney limped out of United's 4-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday but McClaren expects the striker to be fit for Manchester United's weekend commitments against Charlton.
About the only decent thing about the team chosen I feel. Its a little dull as always otherwise. No-one can say Foster is a bad goalie!
Keiran, do you think he'll be out on loan again next season somewhere else? Like you I can't see him being Manure number one yet. I think he'll end up at Everton on loan!
i was just trying to paraphrase maccarone. that aside, i don't think fosters a bad goalie, just not england standard.
Big steve obviously didn;t watch his performance on saturday. a lot of people thought he was at fault this weekend for the goal that cost us the Bolton game and now suddenly he becomes England number 1 (for 1 game only I would imagine!)
*]'@~! the 606 have your say is ridiculous, people are saying hes at watford so hes crap. the ones who defend him say hes got a poor defence, it is not a poor defence. someone had the cheek to sugest green!! he is not even 1st choice at west ham who have conced 1 more goal than us did you know tottenham have only conceeded 1 goal less than us too. dont read them if you get angry easily!
hell yea well done foster he really does deserve it as hes been our only consistently good player this year
Bouazza/Shittu???? Foster is alread the best keeper in England in my opinion if not one of the best in Europe.....
ok sorry caught up in the fact tht one of OUR players is gunna play for england him and shittu then properly thinkin i honstly cant think of any others
well done ben and its all thanks to aidy and his staff they done a great job to get him where he is now and with next season i would hate to see him on the bench as i feel he will be england number 1 very soon and i dont think he can aford to waste a talent like ben
http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx...=&title=Foster+handed+England+start&channel=& Sorry if this has already been posted...
Just the one or twice... Good luck to him though. Time to prove to those who have never seen hin just how good Foster can be.
Dave is this post taking the mick out of my previous Marlon King post, which I didn't realise had already been talked about yesterday?!?! ;D
No, I haven't been online for a couple of days so I must have missed it... You still haven't come to a decision on my offer of snow
I have mate, according to the Today's Post link I'm the last to have posted in the Snow thread, and there you'll find my answer!
