England host Egypt at Wembley on Wednesday and Fabio Capello will be glad football regains focus.
Capello welcomes return of football after Terry and Bridge saga
England host Egypt at Wembley on Wednesday night and a fixture initially scheduled as a gentle World Cup warm-up has evolved into one of the most talked about and important during the reign of Fabio Capello.
Excluding the upset in the Ukraine in qualifying for the 2010 finals and a few educating friendlies against superior opponents, Brazil in November or the lesson in possession from Spain in Seville in February 2009, Capello's tenure has been a triumph.
But the past month has probably been the most traumatic since the Italian took charge of England two years ago as the John Terry saga and the resulting unavailability of Wayne Bridge have dominated the back and front pages of newspapers across the land.
Improving self-belief and performances in a team that had just miserably failed to qualify for Euro 2008 was a challenge Capello could not resist, however, dealing with the recent off-field problems is something the disciplinarian does not much care for.
The man from San Canzian d'Isonzo will have been aware that the England manager's job does not come without baggage, but he will be far from impressed that the coverage of Terry's social life forced unnecessary attention away from football.
Angry
Terry has since been stripped of the captaincy following allegations of an affair with an ex-girlfriend of Bridge, who, as a result, believes his position in the squad is 'untenable and potentially divisive', to add pain to Ashley Cole's broken ankle.
Left-back Cole, who has also been far from a saint in his private life, is in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup to leave Capello with a major selection dilemma to add to his headache as he prepares for kick-off in South Africa in June.
England's manager therefore has numerous problems and he will be angered by the fact that the majority were avoidable, so a first match of 2010 will come as a welcome distraction, but it is unlikely to be an easy evening.
Egypt are the African Cup of Nations champions and, despite not qualifying for the World Cup, are a very strong and well-organised side to offer a significant threat in front of 90,000 spectators at Wembley.
Hassan Shehata's team have been selected as opponents because they surprisingly lost in a play-off to England's Group C rivals Algeria, who will meet Capello's men in Cape Town on 18th June.
Boo-boy target
The Three Lions, newly-ranked eighth in the world, are expected to adopt a formation with Joe Hart in goal and Matthew Upson joining potential boo-boy target Terry in the centre of defence for the last game before the naming of a provisional World Cup squad.
Wes Brown should begin at right-back in the injury-enforced absence of Glen Johnson, while Leighton Baines is expected to get the nod over Stephen Warnock to fill the void at left-back.
Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry will probably continue their partnership in the deep-lying midfield, while Theo Walcott and Steven Gerrard, captain for the night before Rio Ferdinand returns from injury to permanently succeed Terry, will be asked to provide some advanced width.
The irrepressible Wayne Rooney is a certainty to start and he is expected to take turns with Emile Heskey, although Carlton Cole could come on from the bench, in playing a rotating spearhead in England's attack.
Egypt will have the familiar face of former Tottenham player Hossam Ghaly, who left White Hart Lane with his reputation damaged following a shirt-throwing strop, and Borussia Dortmund forward Mohamed Zidan is a player linked with the Premier League.
Possible starting XIs:
England: Hart, Brown, Terry, Upson, Baines, Lampard, Barry, Walcott, Gerrard, Rooney, Heskey.
Egypt: El Hadary, Fathi, Gomaa, Said, Nagy, Abd Rabo, Hassan, Ghaly, Moawad, Zidan, Moteab.
