Contenders: Wright-Phillips
Saturday, 24 January, 2009
Shaun Wright-Phillips made four England appearances in 2008 and scored against Switzerland.
During 2008, Fabio Capello awarded caps to 35 players in ten games as England won eight, drew one and lost one. Today we look at Shaun Wright-Phillips' international year.
Age 27
Date of Birth 25.10.81
Caps in 2008 4 Goals 1
Career Caps 22 Career Goals 4
Manchester City
Shaun Wright-Phillips will no doubt reflect on 2008 as an exciting year for both club and country.
In August he rejoined Manchester City from Chelsea and was soon followed by Brazilian ace Robinho, a transfer which coincided with
the takeover of the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group.
City have since signed Wright-Phillips’ former Chelsea teammate Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy from West Ham United, as Mark Hughes’ side look to continue their climb up the Premier League table.
On the international front, Wright-Phillips made four victorious England appearances in 2008 and will take pride in the fact he scored the winning goal in Fabio Capello’s first match as England Manager.
The Three Lions hosted Switzerland in February and took the lead through Jermaine Jenas just before half-time. Eren Derdiyok equalised for the Swiss on 58 minutes, but Capello had already rang the changes, summoning Wright-Phillips and Peter Crouch from the bench.
The then-Chelsea winger made an immediate impact. Less than five minutes after the leveller, Wayne Rooney played in Steven Gerrard with a superb flick and Gerrard’s cross was tapped in by Wright-Phillips to give Capello a winning start to his England reign.
The 27-year-old’s next involvement with England came in the 5-1 dismissal of Kazakhstan in October’s World Cup Qualifier and he had a key part to play in England’s long-deserved opening goal.
With the scores locked at 0-0, Wright-Phillips was brought on in place of Gareth Barry at half-time as Capello sought more attacking intent from his charges. Again, his impact was instant.
He found a yard of space on the right side of the Kazakhi box and forced
Alexandr Mokin into a fine, low save. It was from the resulting corner that Rio Ferdinand headed England into the lead.
Wright-Phillips came off the bench once more against Belarus before being handed his first start under Capello in the 2-1 friendly victory over Germany in Berlin and was just the width of a post away from adding to his four international goals.