Is Peter Crouch to earn any more Caps under Fabio Capello?
Peter Crouch’s international future was under question this week following Fabio Capello’s baffling decision to leave him out of England’s underwhelming Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland. Crouch cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines at Wembley on Saturday having been excluded by Capello despite possessing the best scoring record of England’s current strikers.
Many suspected an international retirement announcement or vow not to play again until Capello was no longer in charge was imminent, but Crouch has not confirmed this despite expressing his confusion and hurt over the matter.
It isn’t the first time Crouch has been overlooked by Capello. Although taken to South Africa last summer,he did not feature in the underachieving World Cup squad. The 6ft 7in striker’s treatment bares striking resemblances to other player’s who have since announced their international retirement. Paul Robinson and Wes Brown have also withdrawn from duty under Capello and Jamie Carragher resumed his retirement after making a World Cup comeback.
With Capello set to relinquish his duties as England manager after Euro 2012 it is yet to be seen whether any of these players will return, and indeed if Crouch will return to represent his country who he has scored 22 goals for in 42 games.
If this is the case then the debate about player’s ‘retiring’ and consequently returning when there is a change of manager will be reignited. Similarly, if an employee was to retire from their job due to differences with their employer but return after the introduction of a new one their decisions would be questioned.
In club football if a player does not get on with their manager there is the option to leave but in international football this is not the case. A desire to play for your country should over compensate for a fractured relationship with the boss and if Peter Crouch has the resilience to stick out this mystifying spell in his international career his passion will surely be rewarded with a place in the side where he has been such a prominent figure in previous years.
However it remains to be seen which players come creeping out of the shadows as soon as Mr Capello packs up his desk and exits the England job.
