Confusion over Trinidad substitutes puts England caps at risk
UK Guardian
The quartet of players handed debuts by England in Sunday's friendly against Trinidad & Tobago are in danger of losing their caps after Fifa suggested the match should not be considered an official A international after the visitors used seven substitutes.
The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, instigated a new rule at the world governing body four years ago restricting countries to only six changes in a game, a move partly prompted as a result of Sven-Goran Eriksson once fielding an entirely new team for the second half of a friendly defeat to Australia at Upton Park five years ago.
The Football Association were under the impression that they had been granted special permission by Fifa to exceed that limit for the match in Port of Spain, which was played ostensibly to celebrate the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation's centenary. Fabio Capello introduced Joe Hart, Phil Jagielka, David Bentley and Peter Crouch at half-time, with Ashley Young, Theo Walcott and Stephen Warnock brought on during the second half.
However, the governing body were unimpressed at the number of changes made and last night insisted they had not given either side the green light to bend the rules, potentially stripping the game of A international status. "We can confirm that Fifa did not give special dispensation to make up to seven substitutions at the Trinidad & Tobago versus England match," confirmed a spokesman. "We have spoken internally at Fifa about the matter and nobody allowed this to happen."
While the FA will query that stance - they felt they had been instructed prior to the game by a Fifa official that they could stretch to seven subs having originally asked to play 11 - Fifa's assessment would appear to deny Hart, Jagielka, Warnock and Dean Ashton their first caps for their country, Gareth Barry his first goal and Jermain Defoe his brace. Likewise, David Beckham would only have captained his country on 58 occasions.
It would also, in turn, affect England's Fifa world ranking - the national team climbed two places back into the top 10 last night to stand ninth following Capello's first few games in charge. Trinidad & Tobago, who according to some sources had requested the seventh substitute to accommodate Dwight Yorke's introduction, made only six changes in a game played in front of a capacity crowd of 23,000 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
