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Posts Tagged ‘Liverpool’

• Defender suffered suspected metatarsal fracture at Wolves
• Injury adds to Sir Alex Ferguson’s selection problems

Wes Brown is expected to be available for England’s World Cup campaign this summer despite increasing Fabio Capello’s defensive problems with a suspected metatarsal fracture sustained against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Manchester United are due to confirm the scan results on Brown’s injury today, although it is believed the 30-year-old, who left Molineux wearing a protective boot on his foot following a challenge with Matt Jarvis on Saturday, will be sidelined for six weeks with the problem. Brown’s absence is another setback for Sir Alex Ferguson, who has lost Michael Owen, Anderson, Ryan Giggs and John O’Shea to long-term injuries in recent weeks, but the timeframe would at least allow the defender to return to action before Capello finalises his World Cup squad.

Brown started at right-back for England against Egypt last week in the absence of Liverpool’s Glen Johnson, who has only just recovered from the knee ligament injury he suffered at Aston Villa on 29 December. With his left-back options thrown into turmoil by Ashley Cole’s broken ankle plus Wayne Bridge’s retirement from international football, and Rio Ferdinand restricted by injury this term, Capello can ill-afford further disruption to England’s defence before South Africa. Should Brown recover in six weeks, for the Manchester derby at Eastlands on 17 April, he would have just four league games to prove his fitness before the World Cup.

United’s selection problems for the Champions League return with Milan tomorrow also include Wayne Rooney, who missed the 1-0 win at Wolves with a knee problem aggravated against Egypt at Wembley. The leading scorer is still rated as doubtful for the Italians’ visit to Old Trafford.

The Football Association chairman, Lord Triesman, meanwhile, believes the Red Knights’ proposed takeover of United reflects a growing concern among supporters at how their clubs are run and believes a fan-run body could succeed in England. “There are some good fan-run clubs and there have been in England, too – there have been some clubs in difficulties where the fans have been the decisive factor such as York City and Bournemouth,” said Triesman.

The FA chairman refused to condemn the Glazers’ controversial ownership of United but admits supporters are right to respond to concerns over mounting debt. “Being a fan is a mixture of all sorts of things. It’s not a customer going into a shop. You want success on the pitch, there are deep cultural things involved, and most of the time you support the club your dad supported,” said Triesman. “There’s inevitably a sense of community, even if a club is a great international brand as well. It’s a huge mixture of things that fuel the emotion of football. My expectation always is that fans will be interested in the lot.”

He added: “I am really not saying Manchester United cannot deal with its overall financial arrangements but of course fans do take a view about whether their club is all right. If they have been very successful they want them to continue to be very successful so they are interested in where the funds are. As it happens I think United are a huge business capable of generating very, very big resources. It would be disappointing in any club if fans were not interested in the whole thing.”

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Clive Tyldesley’s liking for artificial additives can lead to a severe bout of indigestion

I have noticed the phrase “accurately cooked” in a number of restaurant reviews lately, but it is not the damnation with faint praise it sounds like. Today’s restaurant critics like their din-dins to be simple, elegant, and not making too much fuss about being din-dins. The days when if you paid the thick end of 20 quid for a piece of meat or fish – and extra for your chips – you demanded some fancy schmancy sauce sloshed on it (I am not, you should know, a professional food critic) are well and truly over.

Were there a similar movement in television sport, Clive Tyldesley would be the first to be stripped of his Michelin star, as his hyperactive commentaries continue to arrive seriously overcooked, and packed with more artificial additives than Katie Price’s evening gown. Statistics are Clive’s condiment of choice, so naturally he could not quite get over the fact that England’s victory over Egypt on Wednesday was their 500th in all fixtures.

When he was not elaborating on that – victory No1 was at The Oval, I think he said, in the 1890s – he was inviting us to marvel at Peter Crouch’s scoring record: “Thirty-seven caps, 19 goals, do the math,” he swooned.

Do the math? I had to rewind to check that was what he had actually said. The math, I found, was relatively simple. It works out at just slightly more than a goal every two matches, but maybe in Topeka, Kansas, or wherever it is Clive is affecting to come from these days, it is a difficult problem, something to ponder over the biscuits and gravy, before taking the trash out to the dumpster.

Do the math? We might as well all give up and hoist up the Stars and Stripes. And there was I trying to stop my progeny saying “Can I get …” when ordering in restaurants, barring them from watching reruns of Friends. Do not get me wrong. I love American English, the vigour and muscularity of it and all, but on national television in the middle of what Clive would probably call a soccer match, it was undoubtedly de trop (oh, all right, let’s hoist up the Tricolour as well), and besides it left the commentator with nowhere to go when Crouch scored a second goal, and his stats became slightly more than slightly more than a goal in every two internationals.

It should be acknowledged that live commentary on a football match is a very difficult thing to do, but today’s commentators complicate it even more by treating dead air as an enemy – Tyldesley is undoubtedly the worst in this regard – and their propensity for phrase making, which Motty probably started with his Crazy Gang and Culture Club gag when Wimbledon beat Liverpool in the FA Cup final, but which has been rather too enthusiastically embraced by most of his heirs.

The BBC’s Jonathan Pearce, for example, on Match of the Day on Saturday described Burnley’s recent statistics of 13 defeats in 14 away matches, conceding more than one goal in all but one of the matches, as “a shameful record”.

No, it is not. Gary Glitter has a shameful record (not a reference to I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am), although there is a case to be made), John Terry’s recent behaviour is arguably shameful, but there is nothing shameful about losing a series of football matches, unless players have been taking bribes to throw them, and I am sure Pearce was not suggesting that.

There is no need for the embellishment anyway. It is worth remembering the phrase most readily associated with David Coleman, one of the best commentators of all time, is “One–nil.” Where one might perhaps welcome a little more garnish on the pundits’ bench, where ITV’s latest recruit is the former international goalkeeper Paul Robinson, a new addition to the legion of football and ex-football folk skilled in stating the bleedin’ obvious for money.

Among Robinson’s gems on Wednesday was, “The manager likes to win football matches,” which he later clarified by saying, “He [Fabio Capello] always wants to win the game of football.”

I can see the logic in Robinson’s recruitment. England’s goalkeeping problem is well advertised and the subject of much discussion in the four-ale bar, but Robinson, bluff, gruff Yorkshireman though he is, is way too close to his successors to deliver any forthright Boycott-esque assessment of their shortcomings.

Finally, I realise Screen Break has been suffused with negativity this week, so something positive for you to take away.

Flipping around late on Friday night in search of material, I happened upon The 40-Year-Old Virgin on ITV2, a film I have enjoyed before and was enjoying again, until it started going all soft-centred as recent Hollywood comedies inevitably do.

So I switched to ITV2 plus 1, where the same film was playing, but delayed by an hour. I was thus able to enjoy the outrageous bad behaviour of Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and their gang of schlubs all over again, and switch off before being forced to suspend disbelief when they mysteriously change into decent, honourable human beings.

In short, the “plus one” channels enable you to enjoy the com without the rom – a treat for those of you who prefer your comedy accurately cooked.

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Today’s speculation used to deal in financial risks …

Staring through the window of London’s horrible Kings Cross branch of Dixons late last night, booing happily to itself through its rubberised England’s Brave John Terry mask (sex face version), The Mill felt certain of one thing. There can be no doubt now that, as long as you squint, look away slightly, gouge one eye with a cocktail stick and medicine yourself heavily with furniture polish, that there are plenty of teams better placed than ENGLAND who ARE GOING TO find it much easier TO WIN THE WORLD CUP.

This morning the newspapers agree. “CROUCH PUTS FAB IN NILE HIGH CLUB” The Sun says, before suggesting that “diamond Giza Peter Crouch …. a Nile-lated African champions Egypt.” Crouch is described as “the towering striker”, which makes him sound simply tall and muscular and is much better than “gangling” or “beanpole” which he gets when he’s been crap.

John Terry is rated 7/10, but then so is Theo Walcott, who looked small and frightened. The Daily Mail says “England cannot afford to be without John Terry in South Africa, nor the absent bogeyman Ashley Cole”. Absent bogeymen, that’s the problem these days.

The Mirror deadpans: “Collect your World Cup tickets on the way out, Peter and Shaun. Thanks but no thanks Theo.” Wes Brown and Matthew Upson get 5/10. Barry got 7/10. The rest get 6/10 apart from the Hero of the Match Crouch, who gets 8/10. The Times awards Upson an unforgiving 4/10, warning he “did little to inspire confidence that England can cope without Rio Ferdinand”, who gets more and more reliable the more time he spends on his baggy quilted calfskin corner unit surround sofa listening to banging R ‘n’ B flavas and eating cola bottles. Jermain Defoe: “Looked threatening because his pace gives England an added dimension, but has yet to demonstrate that he can finish as well under pressure as Michael Owen”. Which sounds right.

Meanwhile back in the real world of non-inconclusive-England-friendly-related football chaff, The Mirror has Chelsea “chasing” Benfica’s Brazilian defender David Luiz, who might be available for £10m. Luiz is “one of his nation’s top prospects”. He also has tight, corkscrew-curly hair, of a type that’s often ginger. Chelsea’s wanted list also includes Atletico Madrid’s Sergio Aguero, Monaco’s midfielder Jerko Leko, Jack Rodwell, and a properly reliable builder, but not one of those new type of middle class builders who might have once been an actuary or something and who seem charming at first but who take ages to do anything, talk too much, don’t really know anything about building and get really pissy when you point any of these things out.

Sunderland’s manager Steve Bruce is “in talks” with the Paraguay midfielder and Hispanic Superman actor Cristian Riveros. Riveros plays for Mexican side Cruz Azul and will be available on a free transfer in the summer. Steven Reid, formerly the new Roy Keane, is going to join Sheffield Wednesday on loan from Blackburn. And Micah Richards has “fallen foul of a Facebook fraudster”, who set up a fake page with “shots of the Manchester City and England defender flaunting his six-pack, as a child and out clubbing”. Which is only interesting for the news that Richards had a six-pack as a child and, less so, that he flaunts it while out clubbing.

“Captions under some pictures suggest the fraudster is using the profile to get girls to send naked pictures,” The Mirror adds. “Micah has cleaned up his act and it’s wrong what this person is doing. Micah would have been really stupid to set this up himself,” chipped in his agent, causing the ancient, cobwebbed cogs in the Mill’s brain to judder and finally turn and a hazy picture of what might actually be going on here to take shape. It’s that “would have to be really stupid”.

The Mail says José Mourinho still wants to buy Steven Gerrard in the summer. “Mourinho has been monitoring Liverpool’s stuttering season and is now confident enough to tell president Massimo Moratti to make the midfielder a priority for an end-of-season spending spree.”

Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain has turned down a new contract. Manchester City are “interested”, although they might just be being polite. And Arsène Wenger still wants to buy the Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo. “We are still looking at Melo,” Wenger said, speaking from inside his brushwood and leaf-draped temporary shack, lowering his night vision goggles and thoughtfully lighting another slim panatela cigar.

In The Sun Carlos Tevez is still blathering about things he has only ever had explained to him — apparently wrongly – in overly sycophantic and partial translation. “CARLOS TEVEZ last night launched an astonishing attack on John Terry and warned: “If you acted like this in Argentina you’d be dead.”

Tev reckons if someone in his homeland had an affair with a team-mate’s girlfriend, like Terry did with Wayne Bridge, they “would not survive”. Ex-girlfriend Carlos. Ex. Ex-girlfriend. Put down the butter knife.

“I don’t think you can do that with the wife of another player,” Tevez raged, pointlessly, righting imagined wrongs, slaying invisible ghosts and ignoring the nervous, throat-clearing interjections of his weak-willed and bashful translator.

Shay Given believes maddening rubber-limbed ball-hog Robinho will come back to Manchester City from Santos. “Hopefully, he’ll do well there and at the World Cup — and come back a better player,” he said, getting a kind of sinking feeling even as he said it and just sort of tailing off at the end.

The entirely credible soccer personality Sven-Goran Eriksson has denied he wants to manage the Ivory Coast at the World Cup. “No, no no, this job has nothing to do with me,” Eriksson said, accidentally brushing your thigh with his hand and just leaving it there for a moment too long.

And on Goal.com Adriano’s agent says his man is keen to join Roma, Barcelona, Real Madrid or, failing that, the back of the queue at the Clapham branch of Chicken Cottage, where they also do small, greasy samosas and horribly grey-looking ribs that seem to have been pre-mauled by a feral dog.

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The Liverpool midfielder is more than happy with his form as he prepares to lead out England against Egypt

Steven Gerrard is the most unlikely of forgotten players. If his performances were not vivid enough, the record books confirm that he has won some of the highest individual awards at domestic and European football. Nonetheless, he does not look currently like a man enjoying his status among the elite.

It is improbable that the midfielder will be feeling complacent this evening simply because he is captain for the friendly with Egypt. The post is his because John Terry has been stripped of the armband and an injured Rio Ferdinand cannot do it. There is nothing to distract Gerrard from the truth that this is a season of hard toil.

Liverpool are advancing in the Europa League, but the gruelling priority is to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Dwindling numbers record the toll being taken of Gerrard. He has scored on eight occasions for his club so far in this campaign. Over the two previous seasons he scored a total of 45 goals for Liverpool.

The player himself would hardly need to read the statistics. He has felt the struggle in his bones, but is too frank to pin all the blame on aches and pains. “I suffered with a couple of injuries and with a bit of confidence with my form throughout the season, which I’m over now,” he admitted.

That emphasis on a recent resurgence is not wishful thinking. Gerrard’s goals against Unirea Urziceni and Blackburn last week saw him score in consecutive matches for the first time in this campaign. “The last six or seven games, I’ve been really happy with my form,” said Gerrard.

At a time when many are fragile, it will encourage Capello if the midfielder is rediscovering his dynamism. The jibes about “Stevie Me” are not merely tedious; they also miss the point that his individualism can have a high value. Gerrard may not control matches but he can decide them and that will always be a precious quality.

The England manager has striven to give the player licence. Gerrard enjoys the scope that comes with a relatively free role from an attacking position towards the left. With the World Cup finals in sight, the moment has come to make more of that post.

Following the upheaval and bad publicity that ended with Terry being relieved of the captaincy, it is a priority, too, for Gerrard to challenge the idea of impending doom. He would, for instance, have nothing to do with the suggestion that injury to Wayne Rooney would be the end of England. “What does that say about the rest?” Gerrard snapped. “Are we all crap then?”

Within a moment he was diplomatic once more on the topic of Rooney. “On current form he’s the best in the world,” said the midfielder. There has been an effort by the manager to emphasise the responsibility that these famous players should bear.

Gerrard confirmed that Capello had addressed the squad on Monday. “It was short and sweet,” said the midfielder, “and he told us to focus on the football. He reiterated that we have responsibilities both on and off the pitch.” The demotion of Terry was a reminder, if anyone needed it, of Capello’s trenchant ways. “It’s a tough job being the England manager,” said Gerrard, “and you’ve got to make big decisions. He’s done that and we all follow.”

The player appealed for there to be no booing of the former captain tonight. Even the Terry imbroglio should recede as the World Cup finals fill everyone’s gaze. This evening’s game ought to remind everyone of the necessity of concentrating on the work in hand. Egypt neglected to qualify for the tournament in South Africa but they still stand 10th in the world rankings, a place behind England. With the triumph in January, they have now taken the Africa Cup of Nations three times in a row.

There cannot be any naivety left in Gerrard, who first led England six years ago, but the captaincy is an honour still filled with meaning for him. If this country makes more than most of the position, that is a tradition full of merit in the player’s mind.

“Every kid dreams of being England captain,” said Gerrard. “I was no different. I don’t really care what other countries think about the captaincy. You have to earn the right to be England captain. It’s disrespecting the captaincy [to simply give it to the oldest or most capped player]. It’s massive over here, and rightly so.”

Gerrard wanted to convey a tone of seriousness and said that his wife would not be travelling to the World Cup unless England reached the semi-finals. “Is that OK with you?” he said sardonically to the press. That was the smallest of barbs, yet it indicated how embattled and, indeed, irritated footballers have become since John Terry’s conduct made the headlines.

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England’s new captain reveals that three weeks after being appointed he still hasn’t spoken to manager Fabio Capello

Rio Ferdinand’s appointment to the England captaincy came amid one of the most high-profile footballing scandals of recent years, after revelations about the private life of his predecessor, John Terry, led to his sacking by England’s manager, Fabio Capello.

But Ferdinand has revealed that he learned he was to succeed Terry by watching TV news, and that three weeks after being appointed he has still not had a conversation with Capello.

“I haven’t spoken to the manager yet,” he told the Guardian on the eve of tomorrow’s friendly against Egypt, which the defender will miss because of a persistent back injury. “He does it a certain way.” In his absence, Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard will captain the squad at Wembley.

Perhaps surprisingly given the Italian’s hands-off style, Ferdinand praised the clarity Capello has brought to the role. “The best thing about him is he’s black and white. There are no grey areas. You know exactly what he wants from you before you go out on the pitch. ‘This is what I want and if you can’t do it, see you later, someone else will do it.’ That’s what we’ve lacked in the last few campaigns.”

Ferdinand’s injury has led many commentators to conclude that the 31-year-old’s footballing future is now blighted, and doubts have been expressed about his ability to last out the month-long World Cup campaign in South Africa this summer. But Ferdinand insisted he will be fit. “I’ve had a little setback, but it’s not too serious and fingers crossed I should be OK. With injuries, one day it feels bad; the next day the football’s great.”

Two things, however, were not helpful in a World Cup campaign, said Ferdinand; the first was England’s traditional sky-high hopes at each tournament, so often dashed. “I don’t really like to talk up our chances. We’ve done it so many times over the last few tournaments. We get caught up in the hype and euphoria. When Steve McClaren and Sven-Göran Eriksson came in, we said, ‘This is a new era, we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that’, and it does nothing.”

The second, he said, agreeing with his manager who this week called their phenomenon “a virus”, were the players’ wives and girlfriends, or Wags. “The whole circus that followed the England squad last time at the World Cup was a joke, and I wouldn’t like to see that again. It’s a distraction and is detrimental to our chances.

“I’d rather go to the World Cup, say to yourself ‘Block off four weeks or whatever it is to win the World Cup’, and not see your family.”

• Read the full interview from 8am

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• ‘It’s time for everyone to move on,’ says Gerrard
• Liverpool midfielder delighted to be England captain

Steven Gerrard believes that the England players have been unaffected by the recent spate of scadals involving certain members of the squad.

The Liverpool midfielder was in upbeat mood as he looked ahead to tomorrow night’s friendly with Egypt when he will captain the team in the absence of the injured Rio Ferdinand. “The spirit of the players has been really good,” said Gerrard. “Training went very well this morning and the lads are in good spirits.”

Anticipating a negative Wembley crowd reaction towards the former captain John Terry, Gerrard added: “England supporters have been fantastic and they come to game to support the team. Players private lives are their own affairs and I think it’s time for everyone to move on and get behind the team.

“Playing for England is a big stage but [this game] is a good opportunity for the boys to show the country we are all together. It can be frustrating [for the team] but as a player its important to park those issues off the pitch.”

Asked about the absence of Wayne Bridge, who withdrew indefinitely from the England squad after the furore over the allegations about Terry’s relationship with his former partner, Gerrard took a diplomatic route.

“Bridge is a fantastic player,” he said. “I’ve known him for a long time and we have to respect his decision. It’s a fantastic opportunity for other players to come in. I won’t speak to him [about his decision]. I don’t think its any of my business.

Whatever the disruptions to the team Gerrard was still delighted to wear the captain’s armband again.

“It’s a big responsibility and I’m really pleased to be leading the players out at the game. All the boys are very focused on the World Cup and challenging for positions and training today was very focused.”

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• ‘We are role models and we need to be aware of it’
• Striker stresses disgraced John Terry still has role to play

Wayne Rooney has reacted to a month of lurid allegations surrounding England players by conceding he and his national team-mates do have a social responsibility to be better role models. The Manchester United striker admitted that it was this realisation that prompted him to reinvent his own image over the past few years.

Fabio Capello’s squad convened at their Hertfordshire training base yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s friendly against Egypt with the deposed captain John Terry back in the fold despite the furore generated by his alleged affair with Wayne Bridge’s former partner, Vanessa Perroncel. Rooney insisted the Chelsea centre-half is still an integral player if England are to stand any chance of success at the summer’s World Cup finals, though he offered a reminder too of the greater responsibilities that come with life in the public eye.

“It is difficult as a footballer because you know people look up to you,” Rooney said. “You are role models whether you like it or not. You need to try and be aware of that, try and do your best on the pitch, and try to do things well for kids to see.

“When I first joined Manchester United I used to go out to nightclubs, but it is very rare that I would go out to a nightclub now. It changes with age, of course, but I made that decision myself. I got into a few things that I shouldn’t have and I tried to change that. I am settled at home now. It’s all good. I am enjoying my life with my family. I spend a lot of time at home with them, and that has obviously benefited me. When you are home you get your rest, and it is definitely benefiting me.”

Rooney’s recognition that England’s players have greater responsibilities than merely maintaining standards on the pitch will tally with the views expressed by Capello, who said last week that his decision to relieve Terry of his duties was born of a moral belief that “children look to these players as an example for life”. Capello will remind his players of their wider responsibilities ahead of the Egypt game, having opened yesterday’s training session by telling them that World Cup preparations effectively start now.

“But we are happy to have John around,” said Rooney when asked if the controversy whipped up by the Perroncel affair had unsettled the national squad. “He is a great player. If we are going to win the World Cup then we need John Terry. He is a big player for us and we need him.

“John is a great captain and, whether he has the armband or not, he will still be a great leader for us at the World Cup. Rio has obviously captained United to Champions League success and Steven Gerrard has done the same at Liverpool. We have some great captains in the team and I don’t think we will be short.”

Capello oversaw a skeleton squad at London Colney yesterday given that 11 of his players had been involved in club fixtures on Sunday and were restricted to light work, but will welcome Rooney back to training today after the United forward underwent treatment on a minor knee problem aggravated in his match-winning performance in the Carling Cup final.

Rooney’s goal tally for the season now stands at an impressive 28, with the forward conceding that England’s chances in South Africa may depend on him maintaining such form. The Germany coach, Joachim Löw, described him as “unstoppable” last week to serve notice of his burgeoning reputation. “I do feel unstoppable,” said Rooney. “I feel I am going to score in every game I play. I am ready for all the attention – it cannot be as bad as before 2006 when the team were preparing and, most days, the focus was just on whether I would be fit. Now I am in the best form of my life, and I’m ready. I hope I can make a difference for England at the World Cup. I know that, if I have a good World Cup, we will have a chance of doing well.”Kevin McCarra, page 4

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England’s manager has problems at the back, not least the absence of a regular No1 goalkeeper

John Terry may have been losing his balance on and off the field, but the poise could return at any moment. Rio Ferdinand’s bad back may stop giving him gyp. There is confidence that Ashley Cole’s recovery from a broken ankle will be smooth. Glen Johnson seems close to a return for Liverpool after the knee injury.

With luck, there may be no need to worry about the England rearguard at the World Cup finals. There is just one flaw in that happy prospect. A back four is not in itself a defence. The goalkeeping, as always, will be critical to the squad’s hopes in a major tournament.

That position, rather a long time ago, was regarded as an English speciality, even if it was largely English people who made the claim. Fans could bask in the absurdity of the spell when Ron Greenwood alternated between Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton. The latter, with his total of 125 caps, was by far the greater talent, but any country would brag about having such alternatives.

Of late it has been more soothing to avoid speaking of England goalkeepers. There is cause to reproach Steve McClaren for the failure to get to Euro 2008, but he would have watched some of the errors with incredulity. Why, for instance, did Paul Robinson not take a touch on the uneven surface in Zagreb, which would have prevented Gary Neville’s backpass from turning into an own goal, instead of aiming a swipe that became a fresh air shot?

It is Robinson’s sorrow that he must exert great willpower not to put that question to himself continually. When McClaren lost patience he turned to Scott Carson. England needed no more than a draw at home to Croatia to reach Euro 2008. The route turned treacherous when the goalkeeper could not deal with a long-range attempt by Niko Kranjcar. The visitors went to the finals.

Capello looks immune to calamity of that order, yet his means are as restricted as they must always be for an international manager. David James ought to be applauded if he earns his 50th cap against Egypt in tomorrow’s friendly. Those appearances will have been strung over 13 years in which he has shown wonderful resilience to come through the periods in which he was derided.

Nonetheless, James turns 40 in August. It is all very well to invoke Dino Zoff, Italy’s World Cup-winning captain at the age, but he entered folklore exactly because that longevity of athleticism and sharp reflexes is so unusual. The present manager must ask himself if he can expect such a feat from James.

Zoff was with mighty Juventus at the time of the 1982 World Cup. The England goalkeeper has no such reassurance in his everyday work. James allayed some misgivings by returning from a nagging injury to play regularly for Portsmouth, but that has also lumbered him with the depressing mission of waging the surely futile struggle against relegation.

There has been no clean sheet for James since the end of October. That sorry sequence has little to do with him, but it is not the best way to build confidence for the World Cup. At a bare minimum, Capello needs to have other options. Robert Green is seasoned at club level, but the 30-year-old West Ham goalkeeper has accumulated a mere eight caps and, like James, is also engaged in a gruelling effort to sustain his team in the top flight.

If serenity is of value, Joe Hart is the best placed of the candidates. A loan move to Birmingham City spared him the turmoil and expectation at Manchester City. He has had a measure of peace and security at St Andrew’s, appreciating the steady cover of defenders such as Scott Dann and Roger Johnson. He came through a difficult period in comparative obscurity since it was not national news that Birmingham considered dropping him in the early stage of the campaign. By last month, Capello was extolling Hart’s “fantastic season”, only for him to have an unhappy time against Derby County the following week in an FA Cup tie that his side did at least win.

It is assumed that Hart will get his second cap at some stage tomorrow. These are early episodes in what ought to be a long career yet it says everything about the present reservations over England goalkeepers that the real debate may be over the timing of the invitation to make the position his own.

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• Ferdinand comes bottom of magazine poll
• Gerrard, Rooney and Terry get more votes

Rio Ferdinand, the new England captain, has come bottom in a poll of Match of the Day magazine readers on who should lead the national side, with the Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, the top choice.

Thirty-nine per cent of the 1,563 voters on the magazine’s website backed Gerrard to lead the team in the 2010 World Cup. Wayne Rooney came second with 29%, with only 15% choosing Ferdinand. Meanwhile, it seems John Terry’s sacking as England captain, and the fallout from recent negative headlines, may have affected his standing among young fans with only 17% voting for him.

According to the magazine’s editor, Ian Foster: “The poll shows our readers are unsure about having Ferdinand as captain. Rio has been suffering from injury this season and younger fans tend to look at current form.

“Our readers also prefer players who like to get forward, which explains the popularity of Gerrard and Rooney. They are also aware of the negative John Terry stories and it seems they agree with Capello’s decision on the captaincy.”

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While his adopted country seems obsessed with tawdry headlines, Fabio Capello’s international counterparts are only talking about one man

Fabio Capello does not want to say too much more about John Terry or Wayne Bridge, and who can blame him? Ahead of his last England friendly before he settles down to select a World Cup squad, the Italian would much rather talk about Wayne Rooney, as most of his counterparts in international football management are doing.

“I see the other managers quite a lot, at meetings and conferences,” Capello explains. “Always they come to me and say the same thing – ‘You have one fantastic player’. Vicente del Bosque, Giovanni Trapattoni, they ask me always about Rooney.”

And how does Capello respond? Like a drowning man grabbing a lifeline, or a hungry prisoner discovering rare and refreshing fruit is on the menu for a change. When all your adopted country seems to be interested in is a tawdry succession of off-field scandals it is all the more pleasant to be asked to consider a footballer who is winning global admiration for playing football.

“Rooney is really good,” Capello says, allowing himself a slightly self-satisfied smile. “He did not play so well at Everton last week but otherwise he has been in a fantastic moment. He has improved a lot this season, he’s always in front of goal now. Every pass is good, his movement, his heading and his confidence are all excellent. I think he’s one of the best players in the world right now. You can’t make direct comparisons because every top player has a different style, but you can definitely say Rooney is up there with the best.

“With Lionel Messi you get dribbling and imagination, Cristiano Ronaldo is fast and can shoot from distance. Kaká arrives at the goal from the midfield area. Rooney is a centre-forward. He can do most things and he’s strong. He runs a lot and presses a lot. The others don’t, and that’s a big difference. He’s very important to us.”

There. Wasn’t that like a breath of fresh air? Listening to the FA chairman, Lord Triesman, on the subject a few days ago, it quickly became clear that his employers regard Capello with the same admiration the manager reserves for his best attacking player. After years of searching England have finally found themselves someone who is demonstrably good at his job. Someone happy to take charge, a figure of authority players can shelter behind, someone who can make an average team look good. At £6m a year Capello may not count as a bargain, but Triesman is more than happy with the amount of authority he has imported. That is why, he said, there was no question of the FA telling him how to handle the Terry case, or seeking to influence his decision about the captaincy. What Capello says goes.

Which is just as well, as it happens, since Capello is now saying Terry will still be his leader on the field, no matter who wears the armband. While the coach was careful to confirm that he would not be changing his mind and offering Terry the captaincy back in the foreseeable future, certainly not before the World Cup and probably not afterwards, just as significant was his admission that he never considered leaving him out of the squad.

Whether Terry feels quite the same way is doubtful, but Capello clearly views the armband as an object of only slightly more importance than the coin captains toss to decide ends or the pennants they exchange before kick off. The FA might be congratulating themselves on having a big man who can get the big decisions right, but for Capello it was literally the work of a few minutes to toss the honour to the next man in line, even though he hardly ever plays, and shadow him with a player who is rarely demonstrative even when he captains Liverpool.

Capello is only concerned with events on the pitch, and at Wembley on Wednesday it is unlikely to look as if too much has changed. Terry will still be the de facto leader, Capello has just admitted as much, and together with Rooney he remains central, in every sense, to England’s hopes of success in South Africa.

Capello hopes he has seen the last of the lurid headlines, though he also says he is not unduly concerned about players’ private lives, since that is an area for club managers to supervise. Of Wayne Bridge he points out there is still time for a change of heart, before adding pointedly that when he played he only had the chance to appear in one World Cup, and some players get none. Of the notorious Wags, whom he amusingly likened to a virus at the last tournament, he claims to be unconcerned where they base themselves in South Africa as long as they stay out of the England training camp.

If he has one wish for the World Cup it is a simple one, and the same one practically every other World Cup manager would make. “I hope my best players will be fit when it comes to the time to decide my squad,” he says. No prizes for guessing which players he means.

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