Chelsea mid-fielder Frank Lampard is in line to captain England in Saturday's friendly international against world champions Spain.
Chelsea mid-fielder Frank Lampard is in line to captain England in Saturday's friendly international against world champions Spain.
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According to The Telegraph, however, coach Fabio Capello appears determined to start John Terry in the fixture three days later against Sweden.
u00a0Capello is adamant that despite consulting the Football Association on the matter it was his sole decision to select Terry.
Daniel Sturridge and Jack Rodwell have also been called up for the first time, but there was a seemingly angry reaction from Micah Richards, who has been dropped in favour of the fit-again Glen Johnson.
The Manchester City defender used the social media site Twitter to write "hahahahahaha" over the 140 characters of a Tweet once the news broke that he had been excluded and followed that up with "well well well!!!! Disappointed is an understatement".
In terms of squad seniority, Ashley Cole should be considered but he has already told Capello he does not want to captain England. The manager is also keen not to pass the armband around the squad on a one-off basis.
It is understood Capello will turn to Lampard if he trains well this week, which will complete a remarkable turnaround for the 33 year-old, whose own England future has been in some doubt.
Lampard captained England in the February friendly away to Denmark but has since struggled to convince Capello he should be a regular starter.
After the Copenhagen fixture Capello decided that Terry should be restored to the captaincy having had the honour stripped from him after his alleged affair with Wayne Bridge's former partner.
The decision by Capello to select Terry in this squad, but revealing he will not play against Spain, means the Chelsea player will not have to face the media this week and could also mean that the FA are hopeful that the police may conclude their investigations into the Anton Ferdinand racism case before the following fixture.
Either way it gives Capello more time to resolve the captaincy issue. The Italian firmly believes that Terry should be treated as a man who is innocent until proven guilty.
The England squad to face Spain and Sweden is as follows: Hart (Man City), Carson (Bursaspor), Stockdale (Ipswich); G Johnson (Liverpool), Jones (Man Utd), Cahill (Bolton), Terry (Chelsea), Cole (Chelsea), Baines (Everton), Jagielka (Everton), Lescott (Man City), Walker (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Rodwell (Everton), Downing (Liverpool), Barry (Man City), A Johnson (Man City), Milner (Man City), Parker (Tottenham), Walcott (Arsenal); Bent (Aston Villa), Sturridge (Chelsea), Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Zamora (Fulham), Welbeck (Man Utd).
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