England Watch - Wes Brown
Brown played for England as recently as a friendly in September 2006
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Wednesday, 28, Feb 2007 05:30
As he will be in his 30s by the time the next World Cup comes around in 2010, Wes Brown can hardly be considered a young hopeful for the squad.
Nevertheless, he is undoubtedly a fringe player who will be looking to break into England coach Steve McClaren's thinking before the final group of players are chosen to play the tournament in South Africa.
Brown has been a one-club man in the truest sense of the word - a breed of player that is swiftly dying - and for this he should be commended and is rightly heralded by the majority of Manchester United fans.
Still, however, he has his critics even among the Red Devils faithful and he will need to win over these doubters if he is to make the World Cup plane trip in 2010, says Alistair Potter.
Name: Wesley Michael Brown
Position: Defender
Club: Manchester United
Age by South Africa 2010: 30
Wes Brown was born in Manchester on October 13th 1979 and after initially joining on schoolboy terms, the future England international was signed on full professional terms by his boyhood club Manchester United in 1996.
Brown's entrance into the Old Trafford first team came in the 1998/99 season and his first experience of regular football at the top club level was almost the perfect introduction.
The then-20-year-old began to stake a claim for a regular place just as United began their march towards a historic treble-winning season - claiming the Premiership title, the FA Cup and the Champions League.
These achievements, completed with Brown as an integral part of the back four, immediately endeared him to the Old Trafford fans although the good news was to end there for Brown as an emerging partnership with Dutch stalwart Japp Stam in the United backline was cut short when he was suddenly sold to Lazio and Brown suffered a series of bad injuries.
The next few seasons were difficult for Brown, and this after he had just made a breakthrough into the England squad and been praised by his manager Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the "best natural defenders of his generation".
Despite these setbacks, Brown made the 2002 World Cup squad although he missed out four years later because of injury and a consequent lack of first-team opportunities.
Given the competition in defence, Brown's best chance of making the South Africa 2010 squad is perhaps as a utility player.
He has proven that he can do a job in all positions across the back line and, while he is naturally a central defender, he has played for a top Premiership team in Manchester United in a variety of roles for nearly a decade now and he continues to command a place in and around the first team despite the depth of the squad at his manager's disposal.
This alone sings his praises more than mere statistics and while his chances at international level have been limited, he has performed well, if unspectacularly, when called upon for England.
Utility men are arguably some of the most important squad members at international tournaments and Brown could certainly fill this role, even if he would not merit a first-choice berth anywhere in the England back four.
England's 2010 World Cup squad
*Players in bold - tickets to South Africa booked already
Goalkeepers
Paul Robinson
Possibles: Chris Kirkland, Ben Foster, Rob Green, Scott Carson
Defenders
John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher
Possibles: Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Anton Ferdinand, Leighton Baines, Justin Hoyte, Curtis Davies, Wes Brown, Phil Bardsley, Michael Mancienne
Midfielders
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick
Possibles: Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone, Nigel Reo-Coker, Lee Cattermole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stewart Downing, Giles Barnes, James Morrison, Kieran Richardson
Forwards
Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen
Possibles: David Nugent, Theo Walcott, James Vaughan, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Darren Bent, Dean Ashton, Cameron Jerome