FOREIGN or not, Fabio Capello knows England “don’t do friendlies” against Germany and will field the strongest possible team when these two old adversaries renew hostilities in Berlin on Wednesday, but injuries have denied him half his first-choice team, with Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney added to the casualties yesterday, and the captain, John Terry, in danger of going the same way after he has a scan on a damaged foot today.

An advocate of the power of positive thought, the head coach professes not to be downhearted, preferring to see the situation as an opportunity to have a first look at Michael Mancienne, the 20-year-old Chelsea centre-half currently on loan at Wolves, who has been outstanding for the under-21s in recent matches, and to reassess at close quarters Tottenham’s Darren Bent and Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young.

The fixture, however, has been devalued by the withdrawals, and points up Martin O’Neill’s comment on Friday, when the Aston Villa manager described friendly internationals as “meaningless”. Even before yesterday’s Premier League programme, Capello was already without the two Coles, Ashley and Joe, and Emile Heskey, and he will not consider David Beckham until he is playing regularly again. Los Angeles Galaxy having failed to reach the North American League playoffs, Beckham has not had a match for three weeks.

Deprived of so many regulars, the coach dug deep and called up Mancienne, who has never played for Chelsea’s first team but had 30 league games on loan to Queens Park Rangers last season and has added to his burgeoning reputation by helping Wolves reach the top of the Championship. In Stuart Pearce’s under-21s, he is said to have been playing better than David Wheater, of Middlesbrough, who has been in the senior squad before. Joe Hart, the Manchester City goalkeeper, has also been promoted on Pearce’s recommendation. With Heskey and Rooney missing and Michael Owen again overlooked, despite his goal for Newcastle yesterday, Capello said Bent had every chance of adding to his three caps, the last of which was won under Steve McClaren in the ill-fated European Championship decided at home to Croatia a year ago.

The coach said he had been impressed by Bent’s recent contributions for Tottenham, and will invite him and Peter Crouch to share the considerable task of filling Heskey’s size nines, possibly a half apiece, alongside Jermain Defoe.

The coach intends to keep changes to a minimum, however, pointing out that he was anxious not to lose the winning habit built up over England’s 100% start to the World Cup qualifiers. A lot of hard work had gone into those four successive victories. “When you introduce young players it is right to have one, or a maximum of two, in the team,” he said. “It is dangerous to have more, and we’re playing Germany, not Trinidad, after all.”

At the other end of the spectrum, an era would seem to be passing with the omission of two of the old icons, Beckham and Owen. Both could yet be back, but Capello was making no promises. He explained: “Beckham is not in the squad because, as I’ve said before, you can only be selected if you are playing for your club. When he goes to Milan \ he will have to be playing in the team to get in for me.” Of Owen’s continued exclusion, he said: “I watched him against Fulham and he played 20 minutes, no more. He was out for a long time, and playing him would not be an experiment, we know him very well.

“After the run of wins we’ve had, I’ll be very interested in the next competitive game we play at Wembley \. That will be a real test and I’m sure that the fans will help us.”

In the meantime, Germany is calling, and England expects of her reserves.

THE SQUAD

David James (Portsmouth) age 38 caps 44; Scott Carson ( West Brom) 23, 2 ; Joe Hart (Man City) 21, 1; Glen Johnson (Portsmouth ) 24, 9; Wayne Bridge (Chelsea) 28, 31; Curtis Davies (A Villa) 23, 0; Micah Richards (Man City) 20, 11; John Terry (Chelsea, capt) 27, 47; Matthew Upson (West Ham) 29, 11; Joleon Lescott (Everton) 26, 6; Michael Mancienne (Chelsea, on loan to Wolves) 20, 0; Shaun Wright-Phillips (Man City) ) 27, 21; Gareth Barry (A Villa) 27, 25; Michael Carrick (Man Utd) 27, 14; Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 30, 66; Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 28, 70; Gabriel Agbonlahor (A Villa) 22, 0; Ashley Young (A Villa) 23, 3; Theo Walcott (Arsenal) 16, 6; Darren Bent (Tottenham) 24, 3; Peter Crouch (Portsmouth) 27, 29; Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth) 26, 31; Stewart Downing (Middlesbro) 24, 20

- England have played Germany, in its three guises as a unified country and when it was split into East and West, 30 times. England have 14 wins, including the 1966 World Cup final, and 10 defeats. England have scored 52 goals, conceding 36. Since reunification, England have played Germany seven times, winning twice, the last being the 5-1 success in 2001