While it seems likely that Stephen Warnock will join Ashley Cole in South Africa instead of Bridge, solutions to other areas of the pitch are more difficult to predict, with some unfilled spots in mid-field leaving some England fans and I’m sure Fabio Capello, scratch their heads.
However the progression of James Milner this season has been nothing short of fabulous.
He’s firmly broken into an Aston Villa side that looked full to the brim with wingers are the signing of Stuart Downing, but Milner hasn’t let the signing of the former Middleborough player trouble him.
His form, and the disappointing showing of some of his rivals for the position mean Milner, for me, is a sure starter for England against USA on 12th June.
He’s overtaken Theo Walcott for the position, who after his hat-trick against Croatia in Zagreb, had all but secured his place at his second World Cup tournament, but his form of late has hardly been encouraging.
When everyone is fit at the Emirates Arsene Wenger uses Walcott sparingly, but that hasn’t been the case this season as injuries throughout the squad had meant his opportunities has been more frequent, but he’s hardly taken advantage of that break.
In some of Arsenal’s bigger games this season, particularly in the recent league encounter with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Walcott has gone missing, and with one league goal to his name this season it’s hardly been the ideal time for his form to drop off.
Some of Walcott’s inept displays might be blamed on tiredness after he was taken to the Under-21’s European Championships last summer, something Wenger was hugely against, but Milner, who captained the side in Sweden, has had no such problems this season.
Fatigue is liable to be a factor, and we can’t expect Milner to continue to produce the form of displays that we’ve been treated to this season all the way till May.
Elsewhere in this troublesome position we have Joe Cole, forever England’s solution to their left-sided problem under Sven Goran Eriksson, but now back in the blue of Chelsea he has failed to break back into the side, and when selected been unable to re-produce any of the magic we once enjoyed.
After such a long rehabilitation, has the World Cup come too soon for Cole? Capello’s squad selection for the friendly against Egypt will tell us all we need to know.
After Cole come Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon, who both, for different reason will do well to make it on the plane for England.
Wright-Philips, by his high standards hasn’t been at the top of his game for Manchester City and has, like he was at Chelsea, been a victim of their embarrassment of riches.
Yes, more often that not he plays, but too inconsistently to gather any momentum in his league form.
As for Aaron Lennon, well lets first not forget that he hasn’t kicked a football in 2010 yet, and as a result will miss out on selection for the friendly against Egypt.
Lennon has had a terrific first half of the season, but it’s painfully obvious that he lacks a final ball and amongst other things he looks short of a trick or two from a standing start, more often than not he needs help from a galloping full back to create space for him.
When I selected my own World Cup squad in October, I omitted both Wright-Phillips and Lennon, and I’ve seen nothing in the previous four months to suggest I should overturn that decision.
I did mention the name of Adam Johnson as the future for England, but that the World Cup had come just too soon for him, and not for the first time I may be wrong.
Although I was disappointed that he left Middleborough for City on deadline day, he’s given himself a chance to prove he belongs at the top level and with a few injuries around, I think he deserves a punt, in this squad at least.
There’s always one player who makes a late break and makes the squad, and now that Milner looks a certainty, Johnson will have his heart set on a World Cup spot.
In addition I also feel there is a spot unfilled for another central mid-field player, and given the way the England team is structured Michael Carrick seems primed for the spot, but Lee Catermole, another who traveled to Sweden last summer must also be considered.
So while fans might be fretting over who will replace Bridge in the squad, England fans might want to turn their attention to England's mid-field dilemma.
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