After 66 caps, Paul Scholes has decided to call it quits [football365], and put an end to his international career. Actually I am just shocked to hear this news, considering he is only 29 years old and probably has a least 2-3 years more of service left in him.
However, in my opinion, Scholes has always failed to deliver when it came to the international stage. I mean, no doubt, he is a pretty good player and is one of the players that Ferguson would put on his starting lineup whenever possible, but he has just never brought over his club from whenever he plays for England. Some say that the quality of players that he plays with for England are just not of the same quality as what he is used to for Manchester United, while others say that he has never been able to play his "prefered" role for England.
Funny though that he decided to retire quite early. Could it possibly be that he has had enough of all the criticism that has been thrown his way, or could it be that he has realized that with Gerrard and Lampard being the most likely choices for central midfield, his chances of playing in his preferred central midfield role limited, or could it really be as what he said, that he would want to concentrate more on his club football?
All in all, he has now opened up the possibilities in the England midfield, where Sven (how long will he be there?) does not have to mix and match anymore to cater for his (arguably) best 4 midfield players, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes. Will this mean more pitch time for Joe Cole? Or would this mean more pitch time of my personal favoured combo of Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge on the left hand side? Time will only tell.
Me thinks Sir Fergie used his very persuasive powers on Ginger Spice.
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