Pick Your Team Special: England and Liverpool legend John Barnes would start Peter Crouch up front against the USA

Joe Cole also tipped for starting berth by former wing wonder

Iinternational Match,John Barnes,England(Getty Images)
EXCLUSIVE
By Amar Singh in Rustenburg

England and Liverpool legend John Barnes today names the eleven men whom he believes must start for the Three Lions in their first World Cup 2010 match against the USA on Saturday night.

Barnes, who won 79 England caps, told Goal.com UK: "I think Fabio Capello will have to play two systems in this tournament. Against the weaker teams, and I regard all of England's group opponents in this category, he can play 4-4-2 with Gerrard and Lampard in midfield. "

The 46-year-old - who is in the country to promote MARS, the official England snack supplier, and is a pundit on South African TV - added: "But against the better sides in the latter stages of the tournament he should bring in Gareth Barry or Michael Carrick into midfield and Steven Gerrard can push up and play just behind Wayne Rooney. Gerrard's versatility will be the key. Defensive midfielder in the early stages to playing behind the front man later on."

Do you agree with the line-up selected by Barnes? Let us know who you think should start for England in the comment box below...


4-4-2



GOALKEEPER

David James
Barnes says: "No keeper has
made that shirt his own so
I would give it to the man
with the most experience."


RIGHT-BACK
CENTRE BACK
CENTRE BACK
LEFT-BACK

Glen Johnson

"Essential to have full-backs that attack. Glen adds an extra dimension to the team."



Ledley King

"More mobile than other centre-backs in the squad and is comfortable with the ball at his feet."



John Terry

"He's not skipper but Terry will lead the team and marshal the defence."




Ashley Cole

"A no brainer. One of the best left-backs in the world and gets forward."





RIGHT MIDFIELD
CENTRE MIDFIELD
CENTRE MIDFIELD
LEFT MIDFIELD

Aaron Lennon

"Lots of pace, and has that extra bit of quality over rival Wright-Phillips."


Frank Lampard

"A true attacking midfielder, against the USA, Lampard can do damage."


Steven Gerrard

"He will hold and sit back, allowing Lampard to get forward."


Joe Cole

"Can tuck into midfield, make England more solid and allow Ashley Cole to attack."


CENTRE FORWARD
CENTRE FORWARD

Wayne Rooney

"It wouldn't surprise me if he is targeted by the opposition at the World Cup. All the top players are. Rooney must respond with performance."



Peter Crouch

"Crouch offers an aerial threat and his excellent scoring record gives him the edge over Emile Heskey."




Click here for the England v USA Match Preview.

No trip to South Africa is complete without a visit to its most beautiful and sunniest city. Durban offers much more than sandy beaches, safaris, casinos and the World Cup, for information on what  to do and see, please click here.

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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 2-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
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