Campbell to make history

Campbell: History making year

14 April 2012

Sol Campbell will today become the first outfield player to be selected to represent England in five consecutive major tournaments.

Having just completed a unique domestic season with Arsenal, the 29-year-old centre back is poised to make his own little piece of England history when Sven-Goran Eriksson reveals the make-up of his 23-man squad for the European Championship in Portugal.

Campbell has won 56 caps and has already appeared in four major tournaments - Euro 96, the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup in Japan.

With Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate and Gareth Southgate all ruled out, Campbell's presence will be critical as England bid for a first tournament success since the 1966 World Cup. His first task will be to organise the defensive strategy employed to quell Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry in the opening Euro tie against France on 13 June.

Campbell is England's most experienced defender and will also have a key role to play in helping his likely centre-back partner, Chelsea's John Terry, adapt to the demands of his first big international tournament.

None of Eriksson's other likely choices in central defence could claim much significant international experience. Tottenham's Ledley King, Liverpool's Jamie Carragher and Manchester United's Wes Brown are rivals for the other two places in the squad.

King impressed alongside Southgate in the 1-1 draw in Portugal in February and although he has been troubled by a hip condition recently, he expects to be fit for the European finals. Carragher played in the 1-0 defeat in Sweden in March and is in the reckoning largely because of his versatility, while Brown's inclusion would probably anger manager Sir Alex Ferguson who wants him to rest.

Eriksson has far fewer problems among his goalscorers. Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, who is expected to move from Liverpool to Birmingham this week, and Wayne Rooney are sure to go while Darius Vassell's place is now under threat from Jermain Defoe. The £7million striker Spurs signed from West Ham has twice performed impressively in front of Tord Grip and Vassell's ongoing problems with a hamstring injury - he missed Villa's defeat by Manchester United on Saturday - will weigh against him.

Defoe made his debut as a substitute in Sweden last month and his sudden rise to prominence is similar to the emergence of Owen, who played his first international match in February 1998 and four months later scored a wonderful World Cup goal against Argentina in France.

The need for surgery will probably keep Norwich's goalkeeper Robert Green on the sidelines and give Ian Walker the chance to join David James and Paul Robinson.

This is a provisional list that Eriksson can tinker with until finalising the names on 2 June. He takes the squad for a week's private training in Sardinia on Sunday and has two warm-up games in Manchester, against Japan on 1 June and Iceland four days later.

Possible squad: Goalkeepers: James (Man City), Robinson (Tottenham), Walker (Leicester). Defenders: G Neville (Man Utd), P Neville (Man Utd), Carragher (Liverpool), Campbell (Arsenal), Terry (Chelsea) King (Tottenham), Bridge (Chelsea), Cole (Arsenal). Midfielders: Beckham (Real Madrid), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Scholes (Man Utd), Butt (Man Utd), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Cole (Chelsea), Dyer (Newcastle). Forwards: Owen (Liverpool), Heskey ( Liverpool), Rooney (Everton), Defoe (Tottenham).

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