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Posts Tagged ‘Andorra’

Whatever Fabio Capello and Wayne Rooney say, the deposed England captain will not enjoy a peaceful night

The reaction of England’s fans to John Terry’s appearance at Wembley tonight poses an interesting, if minor, test of Fabio Capello’s authority. “Do not boo John Terry,” the Italian ordered yesterday. But for all Capello’s wishes, and Wayne Rooney’s earnest entreaties earlier in the week, it is more than likely that some of those assembled for tonight’s friendly against Egypt will be unable to resist the temptation to register disapproval of their recently deposed captain.

“I hope the fans don’t,” Rooney said. “I’ve played in England teams when some of our own players have been booed, and it’s not nice for the whole team, not just the player who’s been booed. When you’re leading up to a World Cup, you want the fans behind you and giving you their whole support. That will be really important, so I hope he gets a good reception.”

From the majority, grateful for the way Terry led the team through the qualifying campaign with an almost unblemished record, no doubt he will. But England’s supporters have a history of restive behaviour, and tonight’s crowd would be unusual if it did not contain a faction who derive enjoyment from expressing dissatisfaction with one of their own.

The sound of football’s equivalent of friendly fire has been heard on numerous occasions in recent years. At their mildest, the jeers directed by fans in England replica shirts at their own representatives are indicative of the sense of disappointment occasionally experienced by all football fans when their club insists on picking a player who performs below their expectations on a regular basis.

Such disapproval was sometimes aimed at Phil Neville, often picked by Sven-Goran Eriksson as a jack of all trades. Emile Heskey, who sometimes appears clumsy and does not score the number of goals expected of a centre-forward, attracted similar grumbling towards the end of his first spell as an England international.

In Eriksson’s time, the strangest case was probably that of Owen Hargreaves, the Canadian-born player who left home at 16 to join Bayern Munich. Like Phil Neville, Hargreaves found his versatility a handicap to acceptance and by the time England approached the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, with his place in the side still not estabished, the fans had decided that he was useless, and his every appearance was roundly booed. How wrong they were. By the time England made their exit from the tournament in the quarter-final against Portugal, Hargreaves had done enough to convince virtually everyone that he was not only the most wholehearted but the most consistently effective player in the side, and was named the squad’s player of the tournament.

Frank Lampard, the next significant target, was seen by some as too rich, too well fed and too southern – too Chelsea, in fact. He was also thought to be clogging up a midfield in which Steven Gerrard was struggling to express himself. It took Capello to discover a formula that allowed the two men to coexist, and to convince the fans that Lampard could be as relevant a player in an England shirt as he was for his club.

It was no concidence that the booing of Lampard coincided with the reign of Steve McClaren, who maintained the indulgent approach that Eriksson had shown towards his star players and which had ended disreputably in Germany. As the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign descended into chaos, the travelling supporters began to express their dismay and at half-time against Andorra on a rainy night in Barcelona’s Olympic stadium, with the match goalless, the manager and his players needed protection as they hurried from the pitch.

But playing standards are not the only catalyst for dissent. The show of distaste for Ashley Cole came after the player’s revelation in his ill-advised autobiography of the financial circumstances surrounding his move from Highbury to Stamford Bridge, and was probably led by Arsenal fans within the England crowd. The Terry case is based on supposedly unacceptable behaviour in the bedroom rather than on the pitch, and anti-Chelsea sentiment is likely to be a component of whatever unfriendly noises greet the centre-back tonight, along with a certain sympathy for Wayne Bridge.

That sort of response, of course, is usually based simply on what those expressing it have been told – often by people whose knowledge of the events is scarcely any deeper than their own. “This country in general – and football in particular – is media-led,” a caller to TalkSport said yesterday, and there can be no denying the leading role played by newspapers and broadcasters in setting up the drama, in fleshing out the characters and in raising the tension. And so the booing of John Terry – this month’s JR Ewing, Dirty Den, David Mellor or Hugh Grant – becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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All the plastic ball-by-plastic ball action as Europe’s national sides learned their fate in Warsaw

Preview: Poland and Ukraine are the hosts for Euro 2012 and today, representatives of the 53 member associations who’ll be duking it out Royal Rumble style to qualify for the finals, which kick off on 8 June 2012, will gather in Warsaw to learn their fate.

Today’s draw takes place in the Polish capital’s Palace of Culture and Science and will feature 51 plastic balls (Poland and Ukraine qualify automatically as hosts, but holders Spain must qualify the hard way) being swirled, plucked and cracked open by a dizzying array of tanned and well fed men in fetching blazers.

There are 14 berths at Euro 2012 up for grabs and nine groups will be formed in today’s qualifying draw: six groups of six teams and three of five. The seedings are formed on the basis of the Uefa national team coefficient ranking system, with holders Spain automatically top seeded. Each group will contain one side from the first five pots and six of them will also feature a team from Pot 6.

The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify directly for the final tournament. The eight remaining runners-up will contest two-legged play-offs to decide who gets the four remaining places. You can see who’s in which pot below, where I’ve highlighted the five home nations. England are in Pot One, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland are in Pot Three and Wales are in Pot Four.

Pot One: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia

Pot Two: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania

Pot Three: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Pot Four: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus

Pot Five: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein

Pot Six: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino

The draw hasn’t started yet, but on Eurosport they’re broadcasting a pre-recorded interview with Uefa president Michel Platini. He says that today’s preview is a “bit of a preamble” and that they don’t want to “outshine the World Cup”. He says there’s been problems with the infrastructures in some of the smaller cities set to host games during 2012: hotels, airport runways, stadia etc and so on. He says he hopes that Euro 2012 will be a different type of event to those staged in countries such as Germany.

An email: “I am genuinely puzzled that Slovenia, who have qualified for the World Cup, are in Pot Four along with Macedonia, Wales and other luminaries, and below Pot Three, where none of the participants have qualified for anything for a good long time,” writes Richard Woods. “Russia, who lost out to them, are in Pot One. Do co-efficients simply take no notice of real and meaningful competitive results, or am I just grumpy this morning?”

11am: We’re about to begin. Marsha and Piotr are our hosts for today. If their forced “banter” is anything to go by, I presume they’re Poland’s equivalent of Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly. Marsha is wearing a black dsress with very puffed-up shoulders. It may well be a nod to tonight’s Super Bowl.

11.03am: Poland prime minister Donald Tusk is introduced. He says that “Poland and Ukraine are the first winners of this elimination”, possibly misreading the word ‘competition’ on the autocue.

11.05am: Only five minutes in and we’re already on to our first montage of the morning, soundtracked by Chopin and celebrating – I think – 50 years of the European Championships.

11.07am: On Sky Sports News, they’re discussing Fabio Capello’s decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy. Ray Houghton, who’s in punditing for the Uefa draw alongside Terry Venables and John Hartson, among others, doesn’t think it matters who the captain is. I’m inclined to agree with him.

11.10am: Sky cut to Bryan Swanson in the media centre at the Palace of Culture and Science, which is – unsurprisingly – full of people like Bryan Swanson.

11.12am: Piotr and Marsha introduce Poland legend Zbigniew “Ziggy” Boniek and his Ukrainian equivalent Andriy Shevchenko, who’ll be assisting with the draw. A couple of very longwinded interviews involving multiple translations ensues. Suffice to say, they are both looking forward to Euro 2012. Cue: another montage, showing what fans who travel to Poland and Ukraine can expect to see. A lot of building sites, is my guess. Perhaps I’m being too cynical.

11.17am: “Can you confirm that it has been agreed in advance that Ireland will be drawn in the same group as France?” asks Kevin Dardis. “That this will be the ‘replay’ some people were screaming for? And that Brian Kerr’s Faroe Islands will also be in the group? And Cyprus (as usual).”

11.18am: I can report that Poland and Ukraine both look very nice places – I’ve never been to either, so I’m only going on what they’re showing in the montage, which features a lot of Lovely Girls.

11.20am: Piotr and Marsha introduce the second pair of tournament ambassadors who’ll be helping with the draw: former international footballers Poland’s Andres Szarmach and Ukraine’s Oleg Blokhin. They too are very much looking forward to Euro 2012. Enough fannying around – let’s get on with the draw.

11.22am: Uefa big cheese Gianni Infantino takes to the stage and introduces a little primer for explaining the procedure: the lowest seeded teams will be coming out first.

Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan

Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra

Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands

Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg

Group E: Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino

Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta

Group G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro

Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland

Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein

11.28am: With the lowest ranked teams out, now we move on to the next pot. The tension here is … non-existent. Armenia get drawn out first, but go into Group B because official Uefa diktats forbid them from being in in the same group as Azerbaijan or Russia.

11.32am: Things are hotting up in Warsaw. No, really. We’re on to the third pot now.

11.35pm: We move on to the next pot, containing Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Rep of Ireland.

11.38am: The Republic of Ireland get Macedonia … again. Bah!

11.42am: So, just the Big Boys left to come out …

11.46pm: So England get Wales, which could make for a couple of interesting matches in Cardiff and Wembley.

11.48am: I’m examining those groups in a bid to come up with a Group of Death, but I’m jiggered if I can find one. Group H, with Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus and Iceland is probably the toughest, but none of them look too difficult.

11.54am: On Sky Sports News, Terry Venables is talking some seriously incomprehenisble gibberish through his grey goatee about the merits of groups with six teams over groups with five teams. He sounds very, very confused.

11.56am: Sky pundit and former Wales international John Hartson is predictably enthused by the prospect of his country playing England. He doesn’t think England will too worried at having to play Wales.

11.58am: Sky pundit and former Scotland manager Craig Brown has “got to concede that Spain are probably the favourites” to win Group I, where they are joined by the Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein. Probably the favourites? Probably?

12pm: Ray Houghton is delighted with the Republic of Ireland’s draw. He thinks Russia, Slovakia, Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra are all beatable and reckons there’s no reason why Ireland shouldn’t top the group “and that’s not something we’ve said too often in the past”.

12.02pm: Sky’s Norn Ironish correspondent Lawrie Sanchez looks glum and thinks his country’s chances of finishing in the top two of their group with Italy, Serbia, Estonia, Slovenia and the Faroe Islands are slim. However, he adds, there are some good destinations in Group C to suit any lads organising stag parties.

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Click on the auto-refresh doo-hickey for all the latest action after 10.45am. Send your emails to barry.glendenning@guardian.co.uk

Preview: Poland and Ukraine are the hosts for Euro 2012 and today, representatives of the 53 member associations who’ll be duking it out Royal Rumble style to qualify for the finals, which kick off on 8 June, will gather in Warsaw to learn their fate.

Today’s draw takes place in the Polish capital’s Palace of Culture and Science and will feature 51 plastic balls (Poland and Ukraine qualify automatically as hosts, but holders Spain must qualify the hard way) being swirled, plucked and cracked open by a dizzying array of tanned and well fed men in fetching blazers.

There are 14 berths at Euro 2012 up for grabs and nine groups will be formed in today’s qualifying draw: six groups of six teams and three of five. The seedings are formed on the basis of the Uefa national team coefficient ranking system, with holders Spain automatically top seeded. Each group will contain one side from the first five pots and six of them will also feature a team from Pot 6.

The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify directly for the final tournament. The eight remaining runners-up will contest two-legged play-offs to decide who gets the four remaining places. You can see who’s in which pot below, where I’ve highlighted the five home nations. England are in Pot One, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland are in Pot Three and Wales are in Pot Four.

Pot One: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia

Pot Two: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania

Pot Three: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Pot Four: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus

Pot Five: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein

Pot Six: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino

For full story go to here

It is something of a shock to realise the Manchester United striker is the outstanding candidate to take over the captaincy

John Terry would be quite right to ignore the calls to surrender the England captaincy. Turning in the armband would be a betrayal of the defiance that makes him an outstanding performer on the football pitch. But the time has come to take it away from him, and before settling on a replacement, Fabio Capello had better take the trouble to discover the identities of two more Premier League players who are said to be using the law to conceal their extra-curricular activities.

One of them has reportedly succeeded in obtaining two injunctions preventing publication of the details of his “one-night stands with groupies”, in the words of an outraged Daily Mail reporter, while the other has threatened to use the privacy laws against a newspaper preparing to publish a story about his “tawdry ‘liaisons’ with three women in one week”.

I have no idea who the two players in question are, or if either of them is married, or English, or a member of Capello’s squad. But the manager can’t be too careful. Just imagine if he nominated Terry’s replacement, only to find photographs of his new skipper plastered across the News of the World, caught in a compromising embrace.

The England captaincy should not, despite David Beckham’s best efforts, be seen as a sort of honorary role given to the player with the highest celebrity rating and endorsement potential. Beckham was an effective front man for the team, particularly abroad, but useless on the pitch when it came to influencing anything but his own contribution.

Terry is a very different type, often magnificent in the way he leads by example during a game but, sadly, a disaster in every other respect, including the art of basic communication with the outside world. His record of immature misdemeanours made him lucky to be given the job by Steve McClaren at a time when many thought Steven Gerrard or Rio Ferdinand would be a better choice. In March 2007, when feelings were running high in the days between a drab goalless draw in Tel Aviv with Israel and a dispiriting victory over Andorra in Barcelona, Terry was accompanied by Gerrard to what seemed likely to be a hostile press conference. For the first time in the history of the England team, a captain was deemed incapable of facing the inquisition alone. The failure to qualify for Euro 2008 meant that Terry was luckier still to hang on to the job under a new regime.

In the search for his successor, it will be almost impossible for Capello to isolate one player who satisfies the requirements of being an automatic choice for the starting line-up, possessing a leader’s instincts and maintaining a personal life unlikely to attract the wrong sort of headlines. It comes as something of a shock to realise that, of the very small number of players answering those criteria, Wayne Rooney is the outstanding candidate.

Once a fixture in the tabloids, nowadays alert and interesting in interviews, he gives the impression of no longer allowing anything to get in the way of his commitment to the game. He also commands the respect of his team-mates, who know a sublime talent when they see one. And those disinclined to believe that celebrity footballers are capable of altruism should consider the way he grafted in the shadow of flashier players for Manchester United before emerging gracefully this season to take the leading role himself.

In one sense it would be a shame to burden a young forward with a task traditionally given to a player in midfield or central defence, positions from which the overall pattern of the game can be seen and directed. But Capello can take care of the tactical side. And the 24-year-old Croxteth boy appears to have achieved something that is clearly beyond the 29-year-old John Terry. He has grown up.

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• England join Europe’s elite international teams in pot one
• Rep of Ireland and N Ireland joined by Scotland in pot three

England have been named among the top seeds for February’s European Championship qualifying draw, but Scotland are in the third band after slipping down the rankings.

Fabio Capello’s side won nine of their 10 qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup and they will again be the highest-ranked team in their group.

But Scotland’s dismal showing in their failed World Cup qualification campaign has led to a drop down to 26th in the European rankings, meaning they join the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in pot three, with Wales among the fourth seeds.

How the teams are seeded

Pot One Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia.

Pot Two Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania.

Pot Three Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Pot Four Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus.

Pot Five Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein.

Pot Six Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino.

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The England manager believes Brazilian creativity will provide his side with a crucial examination

Fabio Capello has identified England’s next big obstacle. It is the “imagination” of the big South American World Cup contenders, which renders the friendly against Brazil in Doha on 14 November more than a mere jaunt to the Premier League’s new hunting ground for speculators.

In 20 games as England coach, Capello has ventured no nearer than Trinidad and Tobago to the continent where Brazil and Argentina reside. The closest his teams have come to encountering opposition with Latin tendencies was the friendly against Spain in February, which England lost 2-0. That side included Phil Jagielka and Stewart Downing, but Spain’s superiority was still piercingly evident. The defeat may have prompted Capello to seek out the most creative opponents before he lands in South Africa.

In nine victories in 10 qualifying matches, England tussled only with eastern European republics, plus the Lilliputians of Andorra. Capello now says: “When you play against South American countries they play a different style. Technique is very good and there is dribbling. Belarus played well [at Wembley on Wednesday night], but there was no one dribbling. Man on man – never. They play good possession, like the others in our group, but the different style of South American players is the imagination. So the Brazil game is important for me, the team, the players, to understand this different style.”

As Spain and Brazil look the most likely World Cup winners, nine months out, Capello is addressing the other 50% of the equation by squaring up to Dunga’s team. In the five World Cups they have contested since 1986, England have been knocked out by Argentina twice (1986 and 1998), Brazil (2002) and Portugal (2006), a South American team by proxy. West Germany, in 1990, are the only non-expressive nation on England’s list of torturers.

“I told you a lot of times, we can win against all the teams,” Capello says. “I have big confidence in my side and my players, but it depends on what moment of form we will arrive in at the World Cup. This is really important, because at the moment we are strong, and very difficult to play against, because we are fit and at the top, but the Premier League, Champions League, the FA Cup take a lot of energy, and it’s possible some [players] will arrive not in good condition.

“You have to arrive fit. This is the most important thing. Really fit. Fit and in good condition. After that you have to create the spirit of the group and the style of play. But really important is to be fit.” From that we can extrapolate that Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking (1982), David Beckham (2002) and even Wayne Rooney in 2006 would not have made the plane.

Capello’s diagnosis of the threat posed by South American artistry suggests a strong historical awareness, yet he is adamant that he will not be influenced by England’s pattern of failure since 1966. His knowledge, though, is confined to Portugal’s win in Gelsenkirchen three years ago. “I saw what happened at the last World Cup. I have my style, to drive the team forward, and it will be the same that I used when I was a club manager. I learn, I saw what happened in Germany, but we have to follow my route.”

His “route” is now sharply defined and understood. It is, he says, “to be a group, to know what we have to do on the pitch, the style of play, and to have the best players fit.” He thinks the game’s superpowers will want to avoid England in South Africa: “I think so, because we a are a really good team now.”

Wednesday night’s final experiment in a qualifying match featured a reprieve for 4-4-2 and a chance to examine England’s forward line minus Rooney. “I like Rooney, the style of Rooney, but we have to understand we are one team, not one player,” Capello says. “If we play [Peter] Crouch or [Gabriel] Agbonlahor it’s a different style, but it’s still good, still dangerous, because both those players score a lot of goals.”

Looking back on his 20 games in charge, Capello picks out the 4-1 win over Croatia in Zagreb as the rebirth: “After the Andorra performance in Barcelona a lot of you criticised the team, but I spoke to the players and told them I had big confidence in them. And I remember when you saw the first XI against Croatia, you were surprised that Theo Walcott played [Walcott scored a hat-trick]. But I think after the game against Croatia we improved a lot, as a team. Every game.”

Brazil are no longer the dazzlers of 1970, or 1982, but they can still use the “imagination” like a machete.

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The manager has proven his ability to extract the best of his teams by playing as the situation dictates so expect a change as England prepare for the World Cup

If Fabio Capello were declared to be the greatest manager of his era it would be for knowing better than his rivals what is required at any given moment. No one has ever thought of him as a hopeless romantic, yet he has been in charge of an irrepressible England in these World Cup qualifiers.

There have been 31 goals for the team so far in Group Six, with Belarus at Wembley tomorrow night still to play. Some, of course, have come cheaply, but even England’s ex-nemeses Croatia were made to suffer, with nine crammed into their net over the two games. Those opponents were punished with a slightly higher severity than helpless Andorra. England are by far the most prolific side in the European qualifiers.

If you take Capello at his word, we ought to have expected as much. “My style is always like that, to be attacking,” he said brazenly. It did not appear a tongue-in-cheek remark so we must assume that he had been affected by a memory lapse. His Milan team, featuring a formidable defence, stupefied everyone by scoring a paltry 36 goals from 34 fixtures to win Serie A in season 1993-94.

Capello did not even have the excuse of operating with mediocre players. The same squad’s performance in that year’s European Cup final is the modern counterpart to Real Madrid’s 7-3 obliteration of Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960. There was a euphoria to his team’s 4-0 swamping of Barcelona. The wrong-footed losers must have been perplexed by that degree of enterprise following scouting reports that could scarcely have predicted the hazards ahead.

As always with Capello, the contrast probably arose from his readiness to do whatever any specific situation demands. If Barcelona were vulnerable, it was prudent to go for the jugular and shock preening opponents. On the other hand, a Serie A programme that called for care would see his team tiptoe their way to the trophy.

Capello can be as ruthless with spectators as players. Having arrived for a second stint with Real Madrid in the summer of 2006, he warned fans that aesthetics no longer mattered. He then collected the La Liga title by winning ugly. The club’s gratitude was outweighed by distaste for the means and Capello was sacked.

It was against such a backdrop that he was appointed England manager. We should be relieved as well as happy that the national side have so often been easy on the eye under him. Of course, Capello has not had a belated conversion to idealism.

He simply goes on recognising that it can be pragmatic to opt for adventurousness. If a team does best when permitted to cut loose then it is wise to grant it as much licence as is feasible. Capello has analysed the nature of the environment in which he must function.

English clubs, by and large, conform to the global trend and favour the use of a lone striker, but Premier League games still contain elements of risk and even folly. The competition’s popularity around the world is related to that wild streak.

Capello has adapted to the English culture. His footballers, as he appreciates, do their best work when allowed some licence. “It’s impossible to think we’d score this many but I’m happy,” the manager said. “We are really dangerous when we go forward.”

He will alter the tactics this evening, but Capello has typically had a couple of holding players in front of the defence. One of them, however, has been Frank Lampard and no one would accuse him of being a mere obstacle. The Chelsea player is more likely to launch himself towards their penalty area and, in consequence, has six goals for his country since March.

Men with attacking instincts have been crammed into the line-up and Capello will sweetly deny any misgivings about the gallops downfield by the right-back Glen Johnson. The remainder of the defenders have got used to the receding sight of the No2 on his back.

There has been a lot more fun than anyone anticipated when Capello arrived. Parallels are always imperfect but it is interesting to reflect that Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side came up with just 17 goals from 10 qualifying fixtures on the path to the 2006 finals. All the same, any tendency towards free-wheeling football under Capello may be checked before too long.

When he speaks of getting his line-up accustomed to other formations between now and next summer in South Africa he surely does not mean to make his men even more audacious. Friendlies, with good cause, are typically derided, but there is an element of meaning to them under Capello.

He has sought out the best-regarded opponents on this continent, stopping short only of pitting himself against Italy. The manager did want to measure his team against leading nations and losses ensued against France and Spain.

The qualifiers underline, too, that his back four need all the support they can get from the remainder of the side in high-level occasions. As England prepare in earnest for the World Cup, Capello will have to reduce the entertainment value.

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It was the result Fabio Capello needed, although he will never own up to the benefit of seeing his side reintroduced to the truth about themselves. The England manager has a habit of emphasising his desire to win, as if this distinguished him from counterparts who presumably have a song in their hearts regardless of the outcome. The true difference lies in his ability to organise a side and keep its competitive spirit burning.

England were fully committed in a fixture of no importance to them but they also suggested that they are not part of the elite. While the end of the perfect record in the group is regrettable there was a reminder that the side will have to make great improvements if they are to be a force at the World Cup finals. Above all England are doomed in South Africa should they be such a soft touch again.

The defence swayed so often on Saturday that you felt seasick if you stared at it for too long. Robert Green conceded the penalty that Andriy Shevchenko squandered in the 16th minute by clipping the outside of the post as the substitute goalkeeper David James dived the other way. Green had been startled by Rio Ferdinand’s failure to cut out a pass from the right and was tentative about coming to meet the impressive Artem Milevskiy, whom he brought down.

James, at 39, has a laconic touch that meant he had no qualms about stepping into an arena where the England penalty area had been inundated in the first minute with flares hurled from the stands. “Fortunately I was prepared to go on and had even taken my Pro Plus,” said the veteran. Green had been on edge. Even so Ferdinand was far more blameworthy.

The new career as saboteur appears to be coming along nicely. He had set up one of the Dutch goals in the Amsterdam friendly and has come up with the odd error for Manchester United as well. Ferdinand does not appear imposing for the time being but that may reflect his state of mind more than the condition of his body. The defender is extremely significant to England, since the alternatives lack his inherent quality. It was to be expected that Capello, in public at least, would brush aside the towering blunder.

“He made one mistake,” said the manager. “The ball bounced and he didn’t judge the direction well. But after that he played a good game, like the other players. We had good chances to draw.” Having been coaxed into agreeing that Ferdinand has not been dependable for his club, Capello then rallied. “You cannot question his value,” the Italian insisted. There is a rationale to that assertion but it is not a happy one. If Capello ditchedeveryone who causes him anxiety, he would condemn himself to building a new back four from scratch.

John Terry had a moderate day and Glen Johnson keeps suggesting that he is a full-back mostly because it is a nice spot from which to hare off down the wing. Even Ashley Cole, who has been outstanding for Chelsea, was fallible at the goal. He tried a drag-back near his area and lost the ball. Vasyl Kobin raced across the face of the area and when he was tackled by Johnson possession ran to Sergii Nazarenko. The ensuing 25-yarder deflected off Cole, still trying to atone for his lapse, and beat James.

Ukraine, who are virtually sure of a play-off slot, were also to hit the post inthe first half and there should be no cavilling from England. The 22-year-old Yevgen Khacheridi, on his debut, impressed in defence. The visitors did menace on occasion as they tapped the prodigious efforts of Wayne Rooney, who did the work of two players since England were a man down. “It is incredible,” said Capello. “He can play forward, left, right, he defends.” That will not count for much if eccentricity at the back undermines people like him, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, who went off with a groin injury at half-time.

England’s clean sheets in the group have come merely against Andorra, twice, and Kazakhstan. The situation is so ridiculous that it must be a priority at Wembley on Wednesday to keep Belarus at bay. Life would be better for Capello if he could coach the side out of its brittleness at the back but the blunders come, as in Ferdinand’s case, from individual aberrations more than organisational failings.

Everyone would find life easier if they could count on an efficient defence. Team-mates chose to display solidarity with Ferdinand. “I think he’s doing well,” Rooney asserted outlandishly. “Everyone makes mistakes. He knows he is a top player and he will forget about that. There is no need to go on too much about it.”

Terry, too, was emphatic. “I don’t feel for Rio,” said the captain. “I don’t have to look out for him. He’s suffered from a couple of injuries of late but he’s one of the best defenders in the world. We’re all human. After a mistake the good thingis that he doesn’t just fade away. He’s abig personality. We know we can all trust each other.”

Perhaps so but it may have done no harm for a chastened England to appreciate that they can be vulnerable even with Capello in charge.

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England have qualified for South Africa comfortably from Group Six, but the hard work starts now

Fabio Capello will be hoping for the chance to prove that he can have reservations about perfection. England’s match with Ukraine today may well be extremely hard, but it is quite possible that the visitors will win in Dnipropetrovsk before beating Belarus at Wembley next Wednesday. The squad would then have taken the full 30 points on offer in the group.

Capello is likely to be indifferent to any such achievement. The manager will appreciate that the correlation between qualifiers and the finals is shaky. Italy are the holders thanks to the shoot-out win over France three years ago, yet both countries kept a low profile on the approach to that tournament.

France dropped 10 points in the qualifiers and in the rest of the Uefa zone Ukraine alone had a poorer record among the group winners. Italy had little to brag about either, having let seven points slip away. Capello must appreciate that the finals in South Africa are a new context in which earlier assumptions must be abandoned.

He does not have any equivalent to the sort of swift upgrade accomplished by the France coach. Towards the end of the qualifiers for those 2006 finals, Raymond Domenech talked Lilian Thuram, Claude Makelele and Zinedine Zidane out of international retirement. Capello does not have such means available, but his appreciation for experience was apparent when he gave David Beckham his 100th cap and, thereafter, a relative security.

The veteran will presumably not be starting games in South Africa, but in his dotage there is a neatness and perception about the way he keeps possession. These are traits that may come to the fore if Capello has to bring someone on to help keep a match under control.

Such steps do not bring joy or excitement, but England’s most obvious weakness of late has been a difficulty in subduing opponents for an entire match. Capello’s clean sheets in his eight qualifiers have come against Andorra (twice) and Kazakhstan. The side will have to be far more resilient next summer against opponents of a high calibre.

It has been unsettling that Rio Ferdinand and John Terry have been the centre-back pairing in only six of the Italian’s 18 international matches to date. Ferdinand, in particular, has been vulnerable. The Manchester United defender is reported to receive regular treatment from an osteopath for a back problem and Capello’s main hope may be that he can be eased through the programme next summer.

Durability is the key since many ultimately respected sides at finals have been scorned before finding better form.England need a back four that can be counted on.

Matthew Upson is preferred when Ferdinand is absent, but Phil Jagielka has a versatility that would be useful in the hurly-burly of a tournament. He deserves consideration if he hits form after getting over his knee surgery. Alternatives at right-back are badly needed, although Capello seems to have satisfied himself that Glen Johnson can defend satisfactorily as well as overlap.

Capello must wish that there were genuine options in goal. Robert Green has played for his country without committing any howlers, but has not seemed commanding either. The 39-year-old David James, fit again, continues to have a claim to the England spot. Paul Robinson was also in this squad, although he has a hip problem and was replaced by Joe Hart.

It is comforting to point out that Dino Zoff took the World Cup with Italy at the age of 40. All the same, that is a well-known fact exactly because he was such a rarity. Capello would, at a minimum, like a persuasive candidate to view with James or Green, but Ben Foster’s standing has declined steeply at United.

The England manager could still find encouragement at Old Trafford. Owen Hargreaves, missing since September 2008 with tendinitis, expects to return to action soon. Of course, he will have to show that he can function with full vigour. In principle, he could enhance the England midfield, while also being equipped to act as cover for other positions.

It sounds absurd to suggest that Capello can have any misgivings about the attack now that his team have scored a remarkable 31 goals in Group Six. Nonetheless, England need a broader repertoire because better teams will nullify them if so much continues to depend on the link between Emile Heskey and Rooney. Some coach or other will have a shrewd scheme to break the bond.

There are vacancies for any forward who demonstrates sharpness and Michael Owen can still not be ruled out entirely if he is ever in shape and form. As much as predators, though, Capello will seek footballers who can open up space. Theo Walcott has much yet to do after injury to confirm that he is developing into a mature professional who still has extreme speed and can deliver more than, say, Aaron Lennon.

Damage, of course, has to be done in a variety of manners and Capello is interested in James Milner. The wide midfielder is now in the party at the expense of his Aston Villa team-mate Ashley Young, presumably because his final ball is superior. England have their place at the finals, but that signals merely that Capello is in a new phase, with work to be done and, perhaps, changes to be made.

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The Portsmouth goalkeeper is first choice mainly because of the frailties of his rivals

Fabio Capello has given a broad hint that David James will be his goalkeeper at next summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa. Yesterday, he spoke in the same terms about a subject he had also addressed in August. “I think I know who it will be,” the manager said ahead of this evening’s World Cup qualifier with Ukraine.

Capello then chuckled when it was suggested that James had nothing to worry about, although Robert Green could be given more experience with some involvement tonight. The Italian seemed happy to give an implied endorsement of James. He had talked in similar terms at the beginning of this season.

James, 39, certainly has experience on his side. He made his international debut under Glenn Hoddle a dozen years ago, in a friendly with Mexico at Wembley. Time was spent in the shadows and his first competitive appearance did not come until a European Championship qualifier in Liechtenstein six years later.

Guarantees are still not to expected. “The ‘key player’ doesn’t exist,” Capello declared, and would only concede that someone like Wayne Rooney might be in the “really important” category. James’s prospects seem to be in healthy condition, but that is partly because of the restricted alternatives.

Ben Foster, absent with a reported chest injury, has not impressed when given his opportunity by Manchester United of late. Green has been picked during five matches in which James was ruled out by shoulder surgery. The manager did compliment Green for playing “without fear”. Nonetheless, there is a strong possibility that James will reach 50 caps by appearing both today and in the last qualifier, against Belarus at Wembley on Wednesday.

The fact that qualification has been achieved is insufficient to make Capello take a breather. “I spoke with the players and told them that we have to improve every game,” he said. “This game will not be a friendly. If you want to improve, you have to play like a team. I spoke about some mistakes and we have to improve in this direction.”

Ukraine will be intense opponents. Should Alexei Mikhailichenko’s team beat England they will move into the play-offs at the expense of Croatia so long as they beat Andorra in an away game. A 2-1 win over Ukraine at Wembley in April was the tightest of England’s string of victories in the qualifiers. “It was a tough game where they defended very well,” Capello recalled. “We found no space and, always, when they had the ball they went forward. They didn’t score a lot of goals, but they’ve defended very well. The movement of the team is compact.”

Standards had better be maintained today if the players continue to enjoy his approval. “It’s a really good test to understand what happens when we have to play and it’s not really important to win,” Capello said. “For me, it’s really important to win. I’m putting them under pressure. I don’t know whether they feel that. I hope so. I don’t like to play any games without intensity, courage.”

Capello is bound to envisage himself completing his first international campaign with a perfect set of 10 victories. That outlook is also one that will aid an England squad whose predecessors have lacked hardiness at major tournaments. Capello is also in the healthy position of being asked whether his team has peaked too soon. It is at least preferable to interrogation over defeats. “I think you have to improve every game,” he said. “We are at a good level now, but when you are at 90% it’s harder to improve.”

Allowances of a sort are made by Capello. Emile Heskey enjoys his trust despite the failure to start a Premier League game since the opening weekend of the programme. “We have some movement that he [does] when he plays with the national team, without the ball. I can see how important he is. It’s a long way until the World Cup, still. He creates space for the other players.”

Capello owns up to some concern that the demands of Premier League will drain his men and he spoke warmly of winter breaks, although he appreciates that there will be no such innovation. “The month of May will be really interesting for us, depending on which clubs play [for the title], which players play in the final of the Champions League.”

Still, Capello has more chance than most of ensuring that his own ambitions remain intact despite the aspirations of the clubs.

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