• World Cup

Carragher backs Capello's late team announcements

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Comment: Capello should shoulder blame

Jamie Carragher has shot down criticisms of Fabio Capello's methods by insisting that the England manager was right to leave his team announcement until two hours before kick-off against USA.

In the wake of Saturday's Group C clash, which finished 1-1, there have been suggestions that Robert Green's performance was affected by uncertainty about his position in goal.

The West Ham keeper gifted USA an equaliser when he allowed Clint Dempsey's tame shot to slip out of his grasp and into the back of the net, prompting some to speculate that the last-minute team announcement had not allowed him sufficient time to prepare for the match.

Carragher insists that Capello is just following standard managerial practice, however, and that declaring the team well in advance of a fixture would affect the quality of training sessions.

"No I don't think [the late announcement contributed to Green's error]," Carragher said. "I've played for Liverpool for 12, 14 years now and the manager always tells us the team two hours before the game. It's no different to what other teams do. I've never known anything different so for myself it was pretty normal.

"I think it keeps everyone on their toes. If you say what the team is earlier then it may affect training - the people who are playing will take it easy, the people who aren't playing will get the hump and not train properly - and you've got to make sure everyone trains properly."

The Liverpool defender, who is likely to start the next game alongside John Terry following an injury to Ledley King, did not offer his backing to Green when asked who should play between the sticks against Algeria on Friday. "That's up to the manager, he picks the team," he said.

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