If an international team is already qualified for a major tournament, I don't see the need to risk it at all and it's the one and only area I would criticise Capello's management. He's done an astounding job with the England side since he's taken over but it's non-sensical to risk domestic teams' key players in matches that effectively mean nothing. It was made worse by the fact that the Ukraine actually did have something to play for and would have been giving it everything, increasing the likelihood of injuries even further.
Does he really think England's first team performed at 100% on Saturday? They would have been backing out of 50/50 tackles and hardly chasing the ball down as keenly as if they were actually playing for something. Despite Capello's warnings that any hint of this would result in players being dropped, everybody knows that there's no way he would dare take an England side to a World Cup without the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry or Ferdinand.
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