England have more striking concerns ahead of their World Cup qualifier after Darren Bent limped out of training on Tuesday.

Bent, who was called up to the squad after injuries to Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch, only managed 5 minutes training time before limping off with a knee injury. Gabriel Agbonlahor has been added to the squad as cover.

However, Fabio Capello received better news when Peter Crouch was given the all clear after recovering from a ‘dead leg’ suffered in the friendly win against Slovakia. He could partner Wayne Rooney up front although another possibility would see Steven Gerrard supporting the front man, a role he plays regularly at Liverpool.

In defence, Rio Ferdinand is expected to return and will partner John Terry.

When England step on to the pitch against Ukraine on Wednesday night, the short but vociferous debate on their new home kit will probably come to an end as the fight continues for crucial World Cup qualifying points.

Under Fabio Capello, England have yet to put a foot wrong. They sit on top of Group Six with 4 wins out of 4 and are already 5 points ahead of their Wembley visitors.

However, any talk of strolling to a 5 from 5 record is being dismissed by the players. Midfielder Frank Lampard is wary of the Ukrainian threat and particularly that of his former Chelsea team mate Andriy Shevchenko.  Lampard said:

Andriy Shevchenko is a fantastic player, has always been and is now.

He will be a huge threat to us on Wednesday because he is a top player who can produce something out of the blue - score a goal or make a goal, so I don’t know why it didn’t quite work out at Chelsea.

I think he had quite a few injury problems and slight problems settling in England. He was in and out of the team at certain times, so it didn’t work for him for a lot of reasons, and I think only he can explain that.

The Ukrainian marksman is now back in Serie A although he’s on started 2 games for AC Milan. However his stats remain impressive and in this qualifying tournament, he’s scored half of his team’s goals.

England meanwhile can be thankful football is a game of two-halves, with 86% of their goals coming after the break. If the first-half only was taken into account, England would have 6 points instead of the 12 they have currently.

England had to wait 52 minutes to score against Kazakhstan and 49 minutes against Andorra. Interestingly, Ukraine haven’t conceded a first half goal in their 3 qualifiers to date. So, if you are going to be late home from work or have been blackmailed in to going shopping with your Mum, that might not matter!

The latest Castrol Performance data suggest that an England win is rated at 64%, a victory for the visitors at 13% with the draw at 23%.

The Castrol Index is an innovative way of using technology and statistics to objectively analyse player performance by ranking a player’s contribution to a team’s overall play in terms of scoring and conceding goals. Read the Castrol Index Explanation.

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Joe Kinnear may be destined for a role away from the touchline as he continues his recovery from heart surgery.

The Newcastle manager is due to meet doctors early next month to see if he’s fit enough to return to work, possibly for the trip to Stoke City on 11th April.

However, the Magpies managing director Derek Llambias has already said that the club will take no risks with Kinnear’s health and now Kinnear himself has hinted that any future post with United may be at director level.

Speaking to the Newcastle Chronicle, Kinnear said:

I’m just desperate to be back and do what I can for Newcastle.

I still think we have enough quality players to see us through this.

Obviously I look forward to next season, and I want to say that what’s happening now will never happen again.

Whatever happens, I will have an input. It’s as simple as that.

If I can’t do certain things, I will be speaking to staff and players at the club and working at the training ground during the week.

I’ll still have a major say to the players too. We’ll work it that way.

England unvieled their new home kit at the weekend before the friendly against Slovakia and it’s fair to say that it seems to have split opinion across the football world.

Some suggest the retro design is a breath of fresh air while others seem to be saying that £50 for a plain polo shirt just isn’t on.

However, just about everyone agrees on one thing - the new kit is certainly different from the norm. But what, we wondered, was Umbro’s thinking behind the re-design?

Who better to ask than Umbro themselves in an exclusive Footy Boots Question and Answer session.

FB: What was the biggest driving force behind the radical change in the shirts design?

U: It was Umbro’s view that there was a requirement to make radical change to the development of a new England kit. Both Tim Parkinson, Head of Umbro’s Global Brand and David Blanch, Senior Designer for Umbro took note that historically Umbro had always labelled its products ‘Tailored by Umbro in England‘.

Taking that on board David had previously met both Aitor Throup and Charlie Allen at the London College of Fashion, where Umbro ran a course, and had always wished to work with them. The time being right, they embarked on turning the manufacture of a football kit on its head. Their other criteria was to ‘meet the needs of the modern player’.

FB: Did you intentionally create something that was very different to current day shirts?

U: Yes, very much so. We challenged the merits of a design and thought process that we had used in the past. It was really just saying: if we rethink it, this can be a significant point in time, a watershed for the Umbro brand and the FA and this can help change people’s view of both.

FB: How does a collar on the shirt assist the players?

U: In this case its about comfort and style. When producing shirts of this nature we decided that by using the techniques that are used for regular shirt production (a two part production), with two pieces of material a more rigid, smart and technically good looking collar is acheived.

FB: What was the main feedback from the England team when they saw it?

U: The feedback was terrific. For example John Terry was very impressed with the science and fit, David James found the kit very giving and comfortable and Joe Cole was most impressed by being measured up for a bespoke kit! All the players were measured individually by Charlie Allen a high quality Saville Row tailor, used to providing suites for around £5000 a pop.

FB: Which player was most impressed?

U: None in particular, it seems that they all enjoyed the experience.

FB: Did Fabio Capello change any design plans in the shirt when he was consulted?

U: Capello was involved in this project right from the off. He worked with the team through the various stages of incarnation. His views were heard and taken on board. He likes to be involved in all England business.

FB: The shirt looks like it is styled so that it can be worn as a leisure item (with jeans), was that part of your thinking?

U: Fashion was certainly a consideration, but so was a superior quality, tasteful looking product that will be worn comfortably with incredible pride.

FB: Will future shirt releases for England follow this pattern?

U: The future will be benchmarked from this.

FB: How do you see shirts looking in 10/20 years from now?

U: There will be more sports science together with traditional tailoring.

FB: What’s the significance of reducing the impact of the star that denoted a World Cup win?

U: It has just been styled and blended into the background of the shirt. This was a design thing.

FB: Has Nike had any influence in the development of this shirt?

U: No.

The new England shirt is available priced at £50, order yours now.

As England strolled out on to the pitch at Wembley for their friendly against Slovakia, the new national home kit wasn’t the only debut product on display.

England skipper John Terry was adorned in a new pair of Limited Edition Umbro Speciali football boots which were getting their on pitch debut.

Umbro England Speciali

The new limited edition football boots, of which just 283 will be made, feature the new England crest on the outsole and come complete with a limited edition box and boot care kit.

The boots show a traditional subtle integration of state of the art technologies, including a covered lacing which helps provide total ball control and unparalleled style. Meanwhile, the original Kangaroo leather makes for the ultimate comfort and feel.

If you think that these are the very football boots for you and you’re based in the UK, you might consider buying one of the  50 pairs of the Limited Edition Speciali boot which will be available at Umbro’s Tailored by England store based at Village Undeground, Holywell Lane, London, EC2A 3PQ on 1st April. The store opens at 9am.

Price: £150

Order Umbro football boots in the Footy Boots shop.

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England 4 - 0 Slovakia

Slovakia was a warm up for England’s World Cup qualifying game on Wednesday against the Ukraine. Based on this performance England look in pretty good shape.

Donning the new England Shirt for the first time, England were straight out of the blocks and took the early play to Slovakia. They were rewarded after just  7 minutes when Emile Heskey awkwardly put the ball in the net from a Gerrard cross.

Unfortunately the Villa striker had to be replaced just a few minutes later, having picked up a  hamstring injury.

Carlton Cole replaced Heskey, but he didn’t last long either. Cole was then replaced by Peter Crouch.

In the second half Crouch was unlucky, when his goalbound header was needlessly touched in by John Terry who was in an offside position.

England continued to dominate the game and goals by Wayne Rooney and then Frank Lampard made it a comfortable last few minutes.

Bad news however, Peter Crouch was forced to be the third striker to come off injured with 16 minutes to go. Leaving Capello with a worrying time in advance of Wednesday’s qualifier.

But man of the match Wayne Rooney, who could be the sole striker for the Ukraine, ensured the Wembley fans went home with smiles on their faces, by scoring his second and England’s fourth in injury time.

The new England home shirt was revealed this afternoon as England strode on the Wembley pitch for their friendly international against Slovakia. And, for the first time, the shirt has been created using a bespoke tailoring process for each player.

While the unique all-white kit is notable for its clean, classic, simplified look, it is the product of a complex design journey. Umbro has reclaimed its proud heritage with a modern, ‘Football Tailoring’ concept, which involved fitting sessions for every player, making each individual squad member’s kit unique to them.

New England Shirt

Umbro’s design team, headed up by senior designer David Blanch, was joined by noted RCA graduate Aitor Throup, a specialist in motion design and Savile Row trained tailor Charlie Allen. Together they deconstructed the traditional shirt and evaluated every stitch and seam in relation to its purpose in football.

The result is a stylish, made-to-measure kit specifically designed to adapt to and reflect player movement during a game.

The fabric used is an evolution of current kit materials, combining a high cotton content with performance capabilities and breathability. The shorts come in different length fittings and even the socks have had seams repositioned and feature special ankle sections for improved fit.

Taking initial inspiration from the all-white strip worn in the 1966 World Cup semi-final against Argentina, the new England Shirt is a stunning statement of confidence in pure, unadulterated, white-on-white. Even the star representing England’s 1966 World Cup victory is in tonal white.

The only colours on display on the new England Shirt are a red Umbro logo and the newly-designed, light blue ‘Three Lions’ Crest.

Every detail on the kit has been considered: from the easy-hanging, darted shoulders and ribbed, vented underarm, to the flattened inside seams; from the single-button placket collar to the layout of the airflow vents (which are arranged in the pattern of the roses on the Crest).

Every detail is designed purposefully for ultimate performance and stylish appearance. The kit also features a small section under the badge for the name of the opposition and the match date for each game.

After being individually measured and fitted, each player will wear their own, bespoke kit. John Terry, captain of England commented:

The fitting process quickly made us realise that Umbro’s approach for 2009 was going to be very different from anything that has been done before. Having a shirt that matches your own personal measurements creates a kit that literally has the fit and style of a tailored suit. You immediately feel comfortable and confident when you put the kit on.

The crisp smartness of the new kit reflects the approach and increased confidence seen for England under team manager Fabio Capello, who played a pivotal role in approving the design and process. Capello said:

The opportunity to be part of the process allowed me to input my vision for the future of the England team. The Football Tailoring concept will instill pride and confidence into the player wearing the kit and will create an intimidating visual for the opposition.

In line with the new ‘Football Tailoring’ approach, the new England shirt will be the first ever to be sold by chest size instead of the conventional small, medium and large sizes.

The new England shirt is available priced at £50, order yours now.

We’ve teamed up with Boylesports in advance of this week’s International qualifier - Italy v Republic of Ireland.

Italy v Republic of Ireland

If Robbie Keane scores at any time in the game, Boylesports will refund all losing single bets on this match.

Applies to singles only - max refund €300 (or currency equivalent) per customer.

Applies to all markets on the game.

Does not apply to singles in multiple bets.

Applies to bets placed prior to kick-off only.

Roman Pavlyuchenko has played down rumours that he is becoming increasingly unsettled at Tottenham by revealing that he is happy with the current situation at White Hart Lane.

The Russian striker hasn’t figured much for Harry Redknapp’s side of late, with Robbie Keane and Darren Bent keeping him out of the starting eleven in recent weeks.

This, combined with the fact that he has only scored 4 Premier League goals since his £12m in the summer, has resulted in many suggesting that he could be on his way out of the club when the season ends.

However, the player himself doesn’t believe that this will be the case. He says that he ‘doesn’t pay attention’ to those who claim his career at Spurs is over.

As for having to sit on the bench a lot recently, Pavlyuchenko claimed that ‘even the greatest’ players have spells out of the team at some point in their career. Therefore, he isn’t that worried about the current situation.

The 27-year-old then went on to say how he will ‘overcome his temporary football problems’ and force his way back into Redknapp’s plans before the season is out. This means ‘working hard’ in training and grabbing any opportunities he may get on the pitch.

In all honesty though, Pavlyuchenko might have to wait for an injury to either Keane or Bent before he gets a chance from the first whistle. Redknapp’s current strike force are leading the line well and with Spurs unbeaten in six Premier League games, he is unlikely to change things too much.

What the former Spartak Moscow forward needs to do is remain patient and not let the lack of games affect his confidence or his belief. Going from what he has been saying, he seems to have the correct attitude to come out of this as a better player and a more determined individual.

Like the player himself though, Tottenham fans may have to wait and see whether this is the case in the remaining few games of the season.

By Thomas Rooney

Footy Boots has received a whole load of feed back since we ran our article highlighting that on 3 separate occasions, players had experienced problems with the new Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly football boots.

Didier Drogba’s boot was badly damaged when he played in a blacked out Superfly for the Ivory Coast against Turkey in February then this month Andrey Arshavin suffered a foot injury after a tackle from Blackburn’s Andre Ooijer which also ripped the Russian’s £225 Superfly.

Forget Janet Jackson - now that’s what you call a wardrobe malfunction

And only last weekend, a similar fate befell Luis Fabiano after a double tackle on the forward in the Spanish League game between Seville and Valladolid.

Luis Fabiano’s damaged Superfly football boot

After publishing the article, Footy Boots approached Nike for a response. Rather than rushing out a quick rebuttal, Nike have spent the last few days speaking to various members of their organisation and to a number of players before formulating a response. And this is what a spokesman told us today:

Nike is committed to delivering the best possible performance product to our athletes and consumers throughout the world.

Over 1300 hours of wear-testing and extensive athlete feedback and familiarisation have been undertaken in the development of the Mercurial Vapor Superfly football boot. This includes feedback from some of the best players in the world.

Our product development team recently received feedback from the players mentioned in the Footy Boots article and we are making slight modifications to the upper of the boots as a result.

We look forward to seeing some of the world’s best players continuing to score goals and outpace opponents in the Superfly.

Nike say the boot is still being retailed but that deliveries, as a result of this issue, will now be slightly delayed.

Update: The Superfly was launched in August and is now in our shop, order below.

Wayne Rooney is statistically the top performing player in the 2010 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers, according to new statistics.

Capello may have just labelled him a ‘crazy guy’ when the England camp gathered this week, but Wayne Rooney is vital to England’s success as he is statistically the best player in Europe.

The Evidence

Four match days into the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and England are sitting comfortably at the top of Group 6 with a 100% record, mostly thanks to the ebullient forward Wayne Rooney.

England have scored 14 goals and Rooney has scored or set up nine of those, meaning he has been directly involved in more goals than any other player so far in the qualifiers, which explains his Castrol Index score of 9.25 out of 10.

Rooney is joint-top goalscorer with five goals along with Belgium’s Wesley Sonck who lies second in the table, only 0.02 points behind the Manchester United striker.

The Portuguese midfielder Nani, Portugal’s top scorer in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, makes up the podium (9.11). Belgium, Germany and Northern Ireland are the only countries to have multiple representatives in the CastroI Index Top 20.

Capello’s England play Slovakia in a friendly on Saturday, before England facing the Ukraine in a World Cup Qualifying match on Wednesday.

With Europe’s best player on board, how can England fail?

The Castrol Index is an innovative way of using technology and statistics to objectively analyse player performance by ranking a player’s contribution to a team’s overall play in terms of scoring and conceding goals. Read the Castrol Index Explanation.

Wayne Rooney Football Boots

Wayne Rooney wears the Nike Total 90 Laser II football boots.

Training with the national squad, Rooney is currently wearing the Total 90 Laser II in the White Black Red colourway - Order Yours Now.

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Uefa say that charges of match fixing will be brought against a European club within a matter of days.

Irregular betting patterns have been uncovered from a number of European club matches over the past two seasons. In total, 10 Uefa Cup games from this season and 15 from 2008 / 2009 have been under review.

Uefa general secretary David Taylor said:

There are a number of cases we have been looking at.

Within the next couple of days we’ll be issuing charges against one club.

Uefa is setting up a betting fraud detection system across Europe to include 27,000 matches in the first and second division in each national association.

Only a few matches cause us problems but we are determined to root out this problem.

Uefa president Michel Platini added:

There is a grave danger in the world of football and that is match-fixing.

If you know who is winning, there is no reason to play anymore. Buying players and referees is what worries me.

Reebok has revealed the first in a series of three new advertisements entitled ‘Play Responsibly’ to celebrate their most powerful ever football boot - the Reebok Valde. 

In the ads, Barcelona and France striker Thierry Henry is sensationally shown destroying everything from cars to buildings with a series of explosive strikes!

The dramatic ads, shot in Spain, show France’s all-time greatest goal scorer filmed using cutting-edge Hollywood special effects to vividly bring to life the power of the Valde boot.

Watch the video in the Footy Boots Video section.

Henry obviously had a laugh in front of the camera’s saying:

I had a great time making the ad – I’ve done many things with a football on the pitch but this is the first time I’ve used one to explode cars – a bit like being on the set of an action film!  It was a really fun, and an interesting way of showing the real benefits of this Power Unit boot technology.

Joining him on the set were the Reebok Ambassadors, a team of young amateur footballers who won Reebok Valde boot deals via a European-wide competition. They were given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the Valde shoot, as well as being officially presented with their first pair of Reebok Valde boots by Thierry Henry.

Roy Gardner, VP Marketing Reebok Europe said:

The Valde is the most powerful boot Reebok has ever made, so we’re urging players to play responsibly when wearing them!

You can order the Reebok Valde Pro football boot by clicking here

Football’s World and European governing bodies have given the thumbs down to the latest code of conduct proposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

In a move designed to bring football in to line with other sports such as athletics, WADA wanted football to adopt its ‘whereabouts’ code where players have provide the agency with details of their movements for at least 1 hour a day.

However in a response that has shocked WADA and will doubtless less than impress other sporting bodies, Fifa and Uefa rejected the idea saying that they wanted to “respect players’ privacy.”

Their joint statement read:

Fifa and Uefa do not accept that controls be undertaken during the short holiday period of players.

Fifa and Uefa want to draw attention to the fact that, both on a political and juridical level, the legality of the lack of respect of the private life of players, a fundamental element of individual liberty, can be questioned.

Every year, the footballing world organises between 25,000 and 30,000 doping controls and is committed to fighting doping in football with all of its means.

In a spirit of collaboration in the fight against doping, Fifa and Uefa therefore ask WADA to reconsider its position on the ‘whereabouts’ rule.”

Wada responded by saying it was “surprised and concerned” by the attitude of Fifa and Uefa.

Their President, John Fahey, said:

One of the key principles of efficient doping control is the surprise effect and the possibility to test an athlete without advance notice on a 365-day basis.

Alleging, as Fifa and Uefa do, that testing should only take place at training grounds and not during holiday periods, ignores the reality of doping in sport.

Experience has demonstrated that athletes who cheat seize every opportunity to do so and dope when they believe they won’t be tested.

Some substances and methods disappear quickly from the body while keeping their performance-enhancing effects. Anti-doping organizations must therefore be able to test athletes at all times in an intelligent fashion.

Wada stakeholders have recognised this reality, and the feedback we have received from the overwhelming majority of other sports, but also from athletes and all those who support doping-free sport, strongly contradicts Fifa’s and Uefa’s stance.