Home  »     »   Dyer omission from England squad for Ukraine causes some outrage

Dyer omission from England squad for Ukraine causes some outrage

| 10.09.2012

Roy Hodgson has already proven with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that he is willing to risk youngsters with England and he is now ready to hand a debut to Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling.

Hodgson called up Oxlade-Chamberlain for his Euro 2012 squad despite the Arsenal man never having previously representing his country and then even picked him to start in the tournament opener against France.

Now, despite Sterling only playing five Premier League games in his career, he is one of three players that have been added to the England squad as late replacements for the World Cup qualifier with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, he is 4/1 to score at any time in the 90 minutes if he is called upon, while it is 12/1 that he is on target with the opening goal.

It is fair that Sterling has been one of the bright lights in what has been a disappointing start to the season at Anfield, but whether these performances warrant international recognition are controversial.

There are rumours suggesting that the move has been made to prevent the 17-year-old playing for the country of his birth Jamaica in the future, where he has already been touted as a possible spearhead to their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Sterling’s call-up is to replace Theo Walcott, who became the fifth big-name drop out from the squad as he returned to Arsenal with an illness.

Replacing Walcott seemed a smart move, but somebody like Nathan Dyer would have arguably been a more worthy replacement as a reward for his fine start to the campaign at Swansea.

Dyer has scored twice and provided two assists in Swansea’s opening three games to help them sit second in the Premier League standings.

The other additions to Hodgson’s squad are Southampton captain Adam Lailana and Spurs’ Jake Livermore.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing

«
»

Author

Craig Kemp

Craig has written for Ladbrokes since the 2010 World Cup, having previously gained a Media & Sports Journalism degree and contributed to publications including the Racing Post. His main areas of interest are horse racing and UFC, but he is also an avid X Factor gambler and likes nothing more than indulging in a spot of Hip Hop Karaoke.