England Squad Announced For Spain, Sweden Friendlies

Fabio Capello's England team was fortunate enough to qualify for Euro 2012 without having to deal with any of that messy playoff business, so they get to play a couple of friendlies at Wembley Stadium and cash some fantastic bank in the process.

The Three Lions take on Spain on November 12, a match where England will likely avoid being blown out because it's a friendly, leading the English media to proclaim that their side has a shot at winning Euro 2012. On November 15, they play Sweden, who they'll crush leading to the hype machine getting ramped up even more. Inevitably, this will lead to hilarious failure in which England scrapes through the group stage on goal difference, sees hype balloon to new and hitherto unexplored pinnacles of lunacy with the return of Wayne Rooney, then loses in the quarterfinals on penalties. But I'm getting ahead of myself! Here's the squad.

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Scott Carson, David Stockdale

Defenders: Glen Johnson, Kyle Walker, Phil Jones, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, John Terry, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines

Midfielders: Scott Parker, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard, Jack Rodwell, James Milner, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott

Forwards: Darren Bent, Bobby Zamora, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Welbeck

Gabriel Agbonlahor gets his first call into the team in two years with Wayne Rooney being left out of the team, while Daniel Sturridge and Jack Rodwell get their first (well deserved) calls from Capello. Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker are in the team ahead of Micah Richards for...lord knows what reason.