Caps: 55 Goals: 19 A proven goalscorer, a regular in previous England squads and still in possession of electrifying pace. So why won't Jermaine Defoe be in Hodgson's World Cup squad? One word, Toronto. Defoe found himself frozen out at Tottenham at the start of the current season with summer signing Roberto Soldado moved ahead of the diminutive English striker in the club's pecking order. Unfortunately Defoe's situation still did not improve when AVB was sacked, with Adebayor preferred up front by new boss Tim Sherwood. With opportunities hard to come by Defoe recognised that his future lay elsewhere and at 31 he probably had one big transfer left. In reality his career could have gone one of two ways, either play for a lesser English club and keep himself in Hodgson's thinking ahead of the squad announcement or finish off his career with a bumper pay packet. Disappointingly Defoe chose the latter, moving to Toronto FC. A perennial substitute, Defoe would more than likely have been bench fodder if he was taken to the World Cup. However, against teams tiring in the heat and humidity of the Brazilian climate he could have proved to be the perfect weapon late on in games. Unfortunately he appears to have ruled himself out of the reckoning. Stats courtesy of the FA/ESPN
