Who will be in England’s World Cup 2010 First XI?

That’s the question being asked following the allocation of squad numbers for this year’s tournament. Apparently Coach Fabio Capello has dropped some very large hints about his preferred first XI, all this by giving players numbers. Is there any evidence that a number from 1 – 11 guarantees a first team place? Let’s have a look at England squads since 1990 (I might go further back tomorrow) and see which players started the first group game.

England World Cup squad numbers in 2010

1 David James
2 Glen Johnson
3 Ashley Cole
4 Steven Gerrard
5 Rio Ferdinand
6 John Terry
7 Aaron Lennon
8 Frank Lampard
9 Peter Crouch
10 Wayne Rooney
11 Joe Cole

12 Robert Green
13 Stephen Warnock
14 Gareth Barry
15 Matthew Upson
16 James Milner
17 Shaun Wright-Phillips
18 Jamie Carragher
19 Jermain Defoe
20 Ledley King
21 Emile Heskey
22 Michael Carrick
23 Joe Hart

England World Cup squad numbers in 2006

*Played in first group game against Paraguay

1 Paul Robinson*
2 Gary Neville*
3 Ashley Cole*
4 Steven Gerrard*
5 Rio Ferdinand*
6 John Terry*
7 David Beckham*
8 Frank Lampard*
9 Wayne Rooney
10 Michael Owen*
11 Joe Cole*

12 Sol Campbell
13 David James
14 Wayne Bridge
15 Jamie Carragher
16 Owen Hargreaves
17 Jermaine Jenas
18 Michael Carrick
19 Aaron Lennon
20 Stewart Downing
21 Peter Crouch*
22 Scott Carson
23 Theo Walcott

England World Cup squad numbers in 2002

*Played in first group game against Sweden

1 David Seaman*
2 Danny Mills*
3 Ashley Cole*
4 Trevor Sinclair
5 Rio Ferdinand*
6 Sol Campbell*
7 David Beckham*
8 Paul Scholes*
9 Robbie Fowler
10 Michael Owen*
11 Emile Heskey*

12 Wes Brown
13 Nigel Martyn
14 Wayne Bridge
15 Martin Keown
16 Gareth Southgate
17 Teddy Sheringham
18 Owen Hargreaves*
19 Joe Cole
20 Darius Vassell*
21 Nicky Butt
22 David James
23 Kieron Dyer

England World Cup squad numbers in 1998

*Played in first group game against Tunisia

1 David Seaman*
2 Sol Campbell*
3 Graeme Le Saux*
4 Paul Ince*
5 Tony Adams*
6 Gareth Southgate*
7 David Beckham
8 David Batty*
9 Alan Shearer*
10 Teddy Sheringham*
11 Steve McManaman

12 Gary Neville
13 Nigel Martyn
14 Darren Anderton*
15 Paul Merson
16 Paul Scholes*
17 Rob Lee
18 Martin Keown
19 Les Ferdinand
20 Michael Owen
21 Rio Ferdinand
22 Tim Flowers

England World Cup squad numbers in 1990

*Played in first group game against the Republic of Ireland

1 Peter Shilton*
2 Gary Stevens*
3 Stuart Pearce*
4 Neil Webb
5 Des Walker*
6 Terry Butcher*
7 Bryan Robson*
8 Chris Waddle*
9 Peter Beardsley*
10 Gary Lineker*
11 John Barnes*

12 Paul Parker
13 Chris Woods
14 Mark Wright
15 Tony Dorigo
16 Steve McMahon
17 David Platt
18 Steve Hodge
19 Paul Gascoigne*
20 Trevor Steven
21 Steve Bull
22 Dave Beasant

There hasn’t been a single tournament from 1990 onwards when every England player given a squad number from 1 – 11 actually started the first group game.

The most to have lost out is two.

Rooney was recovering from injury in 2006, but some just lost out because better players were available (Gascoigne for Webb 1990, Scholes in for Beckham 1998, Hargreaves in for Sinclair 2002 and Vassell in for Fow..., ah, that’s where the theory falls down, I suppose).

Players with a squad number from 1 – 6 tend to be OK, the exceptions being Webb and Sinclair.

The person who should be most worried about missing out on an automatic place in the first game is Peter Crouch. Of the six players who had a squad number from 1 to 11 but weren’t selected in the first game, three were attackers (McManaman 1998, Fowler 2002 and Rooney 2006). All three were also Scousers, meaning Crouchie will hope he’s lost any traces of the local accent he might have picked up during his time at Anfield.

7 days to go.