How many non England players would be in the Great Britain team?

The English Football Association has confirmed that Great Britain will field a football team in the 2012 Olympics. Whilst there are many twists and turns to that story before the time comes, it is definitely an interesting exercise to look at what a Great Britain team would look like at the moment.

Most of us in Britain have always thought that Team GB would be pretty formidable. When you look at the actual players available, does that thought really have any basis in reality?

Let’s look at the runners and riders for the current GB team;

Goalkeepers
David James (England), Craig Gordon (Scotland), Wayne Hennessey (Wales), Maik Taylor (N.Ireland).

Right back
Micah Richards, Gary Neville (England), Alan Hutton (Scotland), Chris Gunter (Wales), Aaron Hughes (N.Ireland).

Left Back
Ashley Cole (England), Gary Naysmith (Scotland), Sam Ricketts (Wales), George McCartney (N.Ireland).

Centre backs
John Terry, Rio Ferdinand (England), Christophe Berra, Gary Caldwell (Scotland), Lewin Nyatanga, Steve Evans, Jonny Evans (Wales), Stephen Craigan, Chris Baird (N.Ireland).

Right midfield
David Beckham, David Bentley (England), James Morrison (Scotland), Arron Davies (Wales), Keith Gillespie (N.Ireland).

Centre midfield
Steve Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Owen Hargreaves (England), Darren Fletcher, Paul Hartley, Barry Ferguson (Scotland), Jason Koumas, Aaron Ramsey (Wales), Damien Johnson, Steven Davis (N.Ireland).

Left midfield
Joe Cole (England), Stephen Pearson (Scotland), Joe Ledley, Ryan Giggs (Wales), Stuart Elliott (N.Ireland).

Strikers
Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Peter Crouch, Jermaine Defoe (England), Shaun Maloney, Kenny Miller, James McFadden, Kris Boyd (Scotland), Craig Bellamy, Freddy Eastwood, Sam Vokes (Wales), David Healey, Kyle Lafferty, Warren Feeney (N.Ireland).

I have tried to be fair and selected a similar amount of players from the four home nations. In fact in the squad of fifty-seven there are seventeen from England, fourteen from Scotland, fourteen from Wales and twelve from Northern Ireland.

As an Englishman, I am huge danger of being accused of being xenophobic and Nationalistic, but it is hard to see too many places where the English players would be seriously challenged for a place in the side. The fact that England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 suggests that any feelings of this being a great team are slightly optimistic and misplaced.

So let’s get to selecting the actual team. I think that David James may well be the best keeper but Craig Gordon has performed heroics for Scotland and at twenty-five years old he is well over a decade younger than his English counterpart.

Hennessey is too inexperienced and good keeper though Taylor is; he doesn’t come into the equation.

At right back, Micah Richards has enormous potential. Alan Hutton showed last season that he is a fine full back but Richards is so athletic that he should be an automatic choice for England for years to come.

The left back slot has to go to Ashley Cole. I am no great fan of his, but he is the best and most experienced of the bunch.

At the centre of the defence there are some good players but Terry and Ferdinand stand out as the best.

Right midfield is an interesting position. For England, Bentley hasn’t quite taken over from Beckham yet. He will do in this team!

Central midfield is the hardest to select. Steve Gerrard is probably the only truly world class player in the group but there are other very good players indeed. Jason Koumas is one of my favourite players and whilst he rarely produces his best, when he does he is virtually unplayable.

On the left of midfield I refuse to select anyone other than Ryan Giggs. He may not be the player he once was, but I want him in my team.

The strikers will include Wayne Rooney because despite all the problems, he is still potentially the most talented player in Britain. His partner could be almost any of the others but David Healey makes a strong claim with his scoring record for his country. Like James McFadden for Scotland, Healey seems to be a very different player when he plays for Ireland to the one he is at club level.

This is my team then in a four-four-two formation:

Craig Gordon.

Micah Richards, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole.

David Bentley, Steve Gerrard, Jason Koumas, Ryan Giggs.

Wayne Rooney, David Healey.

It’s a good team, but it’s a long way from being formidable! It contains seven Englishmen, two Welshmen, one Scot and one from Northern Ireland.

Who would you pick?