Defender Wes Brown joined goalkeeper Paul Robinson and retired from England duty on Sunday, just a day after being recalled to the squad.
A chaotic day for Capello began when Robinson announced that he did not want to be behind Joe Hart and Ben Foster in the pecking order.
Having heard Robinson’s announcement in the morning, Brown in the evening went to tell Capello he also no longer wanted to play for his country.
Brown, whose England debut was against tomorrow’s opponents Hungary in 1999, made the last of his 23 appearances against Egypt in March.
“After a lot of thought and with a very heavy heart, I have decided the time is right for me to retire from international football,” Brown said. “At the age of 30, I feel it is right for me to stand aside and let younger players come through, which allows me to concentrate on my club career.”
There was confusion on Sunday over Capello’s decision to drop Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick from the squad, which now only has 21 players after Brown and Robinson withdrew.
While United manager Alex Ferguson had ruled Carrick out of the match on Friday, the player featured in the Community Shield victory over Chelsea. As Carrick went to collect his medal, Capello appeared to gesture that he thought the player was injured and made a phone sign with his right hand.
Just beforehand, defender Ashley Cole was seen ignoring Capello’s outstretched arm offering a handshake as he went up with his teammates. British media suggested Cole “blanked” and “snubbed” Capello.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but