Englands Secret World Cup Weapon
One of the positives to come out of the England B match against Belarus was the first sight for many of a young and infeasibly inexperienced striker, someone who could well take the world by complete surprise this summer in Germany.
I'm talking, of course, about Scott Carson.
Anyone who was at the Madejski Stadium on Thursday night, and who wasn't busy queueing for a beer/piss, will have witnessed an astonishing display of half-time entertainment. Robert Green jogged out happily, safe in the knowledge that he was, barring calamity, on his way to Germany. Little did he realise that for the next 10 minutes he would be humiliated out of the World Cup thanks to the ruthless finishing of young Scott "Scotty" Carson.
It all started nice and gentle; a few pat-a-cake 8 yard chips to warm up. But as soon as Scotty got outside the box you could see his eyes narrow and a grim determination in his oddly proportioned tooth-set.
Greeny bowls the ball out, all flaxen hair and girly jogging bottoms, Scotty prods the ball forward and fires toward goal. Greeny, surprised by its ferocity, is spun backwards and can only toss the ball into his own net, 1-0! Scotty turns away, perhaps out of embarassment, but I don't think I was the only one who saw a concealed clenched fist.
Then he steps up for a right footer, drilled low to Greeny's left - regulation some would say - but it's too much for Norwich's finest and squirms through into the corner. Then a speculative drive with his left peg- once again Greeny can only fumble as it trickles fearsomely into the bottom right hand corner.
Confidence sky-high, Carson ends the session with a crowd pleasing display of deadly accuracy: two delicate lobs pinged unerringly onto the crossbar from 20 yards, Greeny beaten all ends up.
And so, duly humiliated, it came as no surprise when Green came out for the second half and promptly fumbled a daisy cutter over the line for a corner. Then, confidence shattered, muscles tense from the memory of half-time, he stumbles over a goal kick and it's all over.
It was a real shame that Greeny got injured and that Carson's made the squad thanks to another's misfortune. But I have a sneaking suspicion that our wily Swede, always up for a bit of gamble, already had his eye on Scotty as the man to replace Rooney. Now we could have both.
World: You Have Been Warned.