Ah, the perils of punditry! Herr Hippo writes off the summertime potential of two England hopefuls (’Analysis‘ article) then within a few days they’ve reasserted their credentials. Jermaine Defoe has been well out of favour at Tottenham this season. His confidence was allegedly damaged when he was withdrawn at half-time in the Denmark v England friendly, and Tottenham manager Martin Jol had subsequently preferred to pair Robbie Keane with Mido in Spurs’ frontline. But then…Defoe starts last week’s game against Charlton, hits two goals and puts in a man of the match performance.

This is good news for England. Sven is far from spoilt for choice when it comes to potentially prolific strikers. Rooney could score freely but he does sit deeper than a conventional striker, and Crouch operates as a target man who brings others in to play. Vassell is a contender for a striker’s berth in the squad and has been in reasonable form this season for Man City. In the past his international performances have outstripped his club form, and his pace could be deployed late on in games in either a central attacking role or on the wing. When Defoe is on-form, however, he is a more talented striker than Vassell, and he’s the only player who comes close to being a genuine replacement for England’s only proven out-and-out striker Michael Owen.

Shaun Wright-Phillips (SWP) was also prematurely written-off by Herr Hippo. Like Defoe, SWP has been well out of favour at his club. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has given SWP little opportunity this year, preferring Joe Cole, Damien Duff and Arjen Robben as his winged messengers. But then SWP was given a starting role against Everton in the cup and gave their defence a torrid time with his running, demonstrating that he has lost none of his confidence. Again, this is good news for England. Whilst Sven has abundance of attacking midfielders to fashion into some sort of coherent formation, without SWP he lacks an impact substitute who can really run at defences from midfield. Picture this: we’re 1-0 down to Germany in the knock-out phase of the tournament - who’s the Hermes-like figure we need to punish a tired full-back in the last 10 minutes, to get to the goal-line and put an inch-perfect cross onto Peter Crouch’s head? SWP of course! (Crouch’s header, however, would no doubt be despatched with the venom of an under-hit shuttlecock and perambulate gently into Oliver Kahn’s arms.)

Herr Hippo therefore eats his words for starter, followed by a main course of thick humble-pie, with dunderhead cake for dessert, and he concedes that Defoe and SWP must be in the England squad this summer. If Sven decides not to take 17 centre-backs and/or makeshift defensive midfielders then maybe Vassell will be on the ferry as well.

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