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Despite what some of his critics might have you believe it would appear as though Fabio Capello does in fact watch football as Gabriel Agbonlahor, playing completely out of his mind and arguably one of the Premier League's best so far this season, has earned his first Three Lions call up since 2009. This is a bit of a surprise, as there was some buzz that Capello would not be including Agbonlahor in the side despite looking to make some changes ahead of the upcoming friendlies against Spain and Sweden, but it's clearly deserved. Agbonlahor, who just turned 25 last month (and if that's not hard to believe I don't know what is,) has looked an entirely different player altogether this season. Spending the majority of his time on the left, Gabby has been a nightmare for opposing defenses all season long. His best performance may have come yesterday against Norwich City, scoring a goal that was sandwiched by his setting up both of Darren Bent's.
It's also worth noting that Bent has been included in the squad as well; that wouldn't normally be news but given the other strikers given the call (Agbonlahor, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Bobby Zamora) and the fact that Wayne Rooney has not been included in the team makes it stand out a bit. Rooney has likely been left out as punishment for his red card in Euro 2012 qualifying and his exclusion from the team will give Capello a chancce to examine some youngsters, but if the purpose of Bent moving to Aston Villa was to reignite his England career it appears to have worked. Bent has been a Three Lions fixture since moving from Sunderland and it seems unlikely that he's going to be losing his place in the squad at any point in the foreseeable future.
It's wonderful to see that Gabby is getting some acknowledgement for the season he's been having to this point in the year. Playing for England is a tremendous honor and incredibly important to players at this level, so congratulations to Gabby and Bent both. Now, let's all remember that these games don't matter at all and not get hurt. I'm looking at you, Darren.