WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION

The World Cup 2010 will be held in South Africa between 11 June and 11 July 2010.

England were put in the second pot of seeds having failed to qualify for Euro 2008. Only the top team in the group qualify for the finals with the second placed team having a knockout game against another second placed European team to qualify.
 

England are in qualification group 6: 1 Croatia 2 England 3 Ukraine 4 Belarus 5 Kazakhstan 6 Andorra

Theo Walcott

England were given a chance to play against Croatia again after losing to them twice in the Euro 2008 qualification group. Ukraine will also provide tough opposition as they try and qualify from this group.

The new England manager, Fabio Capello named his first squad on 31 January 2008 for a friendly against Switzerland the following week. Theo Walcott (pictured) and Aaron Lennon were left out but selected for the under 21 squad. David Beckham (LA Galaxy) was dropped which may now leave him on 99 caps for England. John Terry and Frank Lampard were injured. Capello's first squad was:

Goalkeepers: David James, Scott Carson, Chris Kirkland
Defenders: Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate, Micah Richards, Wayne Bridge, Ashley Cole, Wes Brown, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, Curtis Davies, Nicky Shorey, Joleon Lescott, Matthew Upson
Midfielders: Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Carrick, Gareth Barry, Jermaine Jenas, Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, David Bentley
Strikers: Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch, Gabriel Agbonlahor

The World Cup 2010 qualification fixture list is:

6 September 2008:    Andorra v England
10 September 2008:  Croatia v England
11 October 2008:      England v Kazakhstan
15 October 2008:      Belarus v England
1 April 2009:             England v Ukraine
6 June 2009:              Kazakhstan v England
10 June 2009:            England v Andorra
9 September 2009:    England v Croatia
10 October 2009:      Ukraine v England
14 October 2009:      England v Belarus
 

See all England's results between Euro 1996 and the end of 2007 here.