England coach, Fabio Capello, has named Frank Lampard as captain for Wednesday’s international friendly against Denmark, after both captain, Rio Ferdinand, and vice-captain, Steven Gerrard picked up injuries playing Premier League football on the weekend.
Lampard, 32, who plays for Barclays Premier League title holders, Chelsea, has missed a large part of this season through injury. Despite having appeared 83 times for his country, and scoring 20 goals, his selection to captain England came as something of a surprise to the player:
“I am very proud, it is quite unexpected,”
“I’ve been in the squad for quite a long time time now and I feel like one of the old stagers. It will be one of the proudest moments of my career to lead out the boys.
“I’ll try and do what I do for Chelsea. I’m not going to change just because of the armband. The team will always need leaders and I will try and do my usual job but try and have an influence on the team.”
England will face Denmark in Copenhagen on the evening of Wednesday 9th February 2011. The match will kick-off at 20:15 CET (19:15 GMT).
