Most people would agree this season's Carling Cup has been an enjoyable, exciting and worthwhile event, much more so than the FA Cup is turning out to be, and when Fabio Capello takes his seat at Wembley for the final on Sunday the number of English players involved should be a welcome bonus.
In theory, at least, it ought to be possible to pick a fairly convincing England team from the international players on Aston Villa's and Manchester United's books. Something like this one: Foster; Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Warnock; A Young, Milner, Carrick, Downing; Rooney, Agbonlahor. Subs: Amos, Davies, Sidwell, Delph, Reo-Coker, Heskey, Owen.
Before anyone objects, I am not suggesting all those players will be on show on Sunday. Ben Foster had not been seen this year until he played against West Ham on Tuesday night and Sir Alex Ferguson used Edwin van der Sar for the two semi-final games against Manchester City, ahead of his nominal Carling Cup keeper, Tomasz Kuszczak. Gary Neville may play at Wembley, but if he plays anything like he did at Goodison Park on Saturday he will not be forming part of Capello's plans.
Rio Ferdinand is out after tweaking his back again, while among the reserves Curtis Davies and Michael Owen have gone backwards at club level, never mind international level, but nevertheless the overall picture is fairly impressive. Especially when you consider United have let Danny Welbeck go to Preston on loan, that Paul Scholes and Luke Young have made themselves unavailable for England selection and that in other circumstances, perhaps in a parallel universe, United might be able to call on Owen Hargreaves.
At a push Villa and United could both supply 11 credible English players each if they had to. That's credible in terms of the Carling Cup final, not the World Cup finals, and I am aware that while both goalkeepers in the above squad are from United, one could easily substitute Elliott Parish for Ben Amos. The point is, and thank goodness it is not a Liverpool-Arsenal final we are talking about, that the scarcity of English players performing at the top level has possibly been exaggerated.
It is certainly true that both Villa and United have made conscious decisions to nurture English talent whenever possible, and that not many other combinations of finalists would yield such a plentiful crop, though it seems to be true that whatever the numbers of foreigners in the Premier League, and however regrettable it may be that some teams take the field without a single English presence, quality exists in England and good players still have the opportunity to rise to prominence.
For proof of that look no further than James Milner, whose performances have been outstanding this season. Perhaps not as outstanding as those of Wayne Rooney, but the United striker was a known talent when Ferguson paid £25m for him as a teenager. Milner, like his team-mate Stephen Warnock, has been at a few clubs but is attracting attention at Villa on account of his consistency and Martin O'Neill's shrewd team-building.
Elsewhere in the Premier League Englishness is not in short supply at Manchester City where, mainly as a result of their spending policy, two England full-backs and two wingers can now be found, in addition to Gareth Barry and Joleon Lescott.
Everton, by contrast, are famous for not having much money to spend, yet their notable victory over Manchester United at the weekend came courtesy of two late goals from young English substitutes – Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell. The latter showed maturity beyond his 18 years in declining Sky's champagne man of the match award, pointing out that the team deserved all the credit and he had only been on the pitch for five minutes.
Rodwell was quite right, Everton's team spirit and collective commitment won them the game, though most neutrals reckoned the individual performance most worthy of note came from the eternally undervalued Leon Osman, born in Billinge, between Wigan and St Helens. Leighton Baines, born in Kirkby, and Phil Neville, of the Bury Nevilles, were also excellent, as they have been all season.
So it is important to remember, as Capello takes his last look at England in action against Egypt next week before turning his attention to finalising his squad, that his choices amount to more than just the usual suspects from Chelsea and Manchester United, plus Steven Gerrard and whoever Manchester City have just bought.
Not everyone has as many English first-team regulars as Villa, but most places you look in the Premier League there is someone making a case for himself. Joe Hart, Bobby Zamora, Jamie O'Hara, even David Bentley is taking advantage of Aaron Lennon's absence to remind everyone that while he may lack pace, he can still play a bit and whack in a mean dead ball. If that is all David Beckham is going to be required for in South Africa, Capello could usefully consider Bentley instead, as well as team-mates such as Lennon, Jermain Defoe, Tom Huddlestone, Michael Dawson and Peter Crouch.
The England manager cannot pick everybody, some good players will be disappointed and in that sense Capello's job over the next few weeks is a difficult one. But that is exactly how it should be. When Capello came to England it was felt that England squads picked themselves, because Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren had stuck to the same group of players and frequently bemoaned the limited choice. This summer, if some capable, talented players are left behind, it can only improve England's tournament chances. It might even be progress.
