Off to Austria

Rooney and the rest of the England squad have left for Austria to prepare for the World Cup finals. They will be training at altitude. 

Only 23 players can go the World Cup, but who will they be? 

With England’s final home friendly before the World Cup just around the corner, Manager Fabio Capello will no doubt already have a good idea of the 23 players who will be on the plane to South Africa in a couple of weeks.

Capello’s current 30-man squad face Mexico and Japan prior to the final squad announcement on 1 June, giving players their last opportunity to stake a claim for a place.

In accordance with FIFA rules, a list of all national squads must be submitted showing players’ “full last name(s), all first names, popular name, number on the shirt, position, place and date of birth, passport number, club and country of the club, height, weight, number of caps won and number of goals scored...

"Only the numbers 1 to 23 may be allocated to these players, with number 1 being reserved exclusively for one of the goalkeepers. Only these 23 players (except in cases of force majeure recognised by the FIFA Organising Committee) will be permitted to compete in the final competition.”