Posts Tagged ‘Spain’
England are OK but pause and take a peak at how good Spain and Brazil are | Paul Hayward
The improvements wrought by Fabio Capello may not be sufficient to overcome the game’s top two superpowers
For England Spain and Brazil are the Scylla and Charybdis of this World Cup. To believe the sick man of Europe can finally put 1966 in a time capsule you have to believe the improvements wrought by Fabio Capello are sufficient to overcome the game’s top two superpowers.
Last week England again reversed Sven-Goran Eriksson’s mantra of first half good, second half not so good, to beat the best team in Africa. That just leaves the top sides in Europe and South America, who have inflicted hurt on Capello’s men in friendly matches. Spain were 2-0 winners in February last year and Brazil prevailed 1-0 in Doha in November, a game that prompted pundits to say England’s back-up boys were not good enough, in contrast to Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over Egypt, after which everyone claimed the bench was bursting with match-winning talent.
We are close to the stage in World Cup build-ups where an amnesiac population start hectoring the players and coach to say yes, strike me dead if England don’t go there and win it this time. Eriksson started out not wanting to go along with this premature triumphalism but succumbed in the end, lobbing the punters the sardine they wanted: “I think we will win it, of course.”
Just as assessments of individual talent are weakened by an unwillingness to consider the quality of the opposition – Tommy Hotshot was a one-man tornado against Stoke but anonymous against Barcelona, strangely – so any appraisal of England’s prospects in South Africa must start with an acknowledgment of how hard Spain and Brazil will be to shift.
Nor is it only those two fine teams but the five others currently ranked higher than Capello’s: Holland, Italy (the world champions), Germany, Portugal and France. Not forgetting Argentina, who are managed by the self-detonating Diego Maradona but beat Germany in Munich in midweek. Spain and Brazil, though, are the Kauto Star of this summer’s tournament. Realistically England jump off in the Gold Cup knowing there’s nothing in the form book to say they should beat silky Spain or a Brazil XI who have dumped big-name narcissism in favour of industry and a lethal counterattacking style.
Spain’s 2-0 win over France last week was their first on Gallic soil since 1968 and extended an already astounding run to 42 wins in 45 outings. Their only defeat in that time was to America at the Confederations Cup. Here our racing experts toss their trilbys. If the US can beat Spain, and England beat the US, who are in their World Cup qualifying group, then surely the form line says …
No it doesn’t. In Spain’s starting line-up in Paris: Iker Casillas, Carles Puyol, Xabi Alonso, David Villa, Cesc Fábregas, Andrés Iniesta, David Silva. Villa scored his 36th international goal in 55 appearances. In nets Casillas collected his 102nd cap, Xavi Hernández, Pepe Reina, Fernando Torres and Marcos Senna warmed the bench before trotting on. Imagine having Casillas and Reina to choose from in goal. Capello, meanwhile, is sweating over whether David James should be replaced by Robert Green.
They say Brazil have “problems”. But these seem entirely political, as they often are with the five-times World Cup winners. The dilettante Ronaldinho has woken up under Leonardo’s management at Milan, so now Dunga is under pressure to restore the slimmed-down shimmy-star. The coach, though, has his core of humble patriots and his pattern of play, which is to absorb attacks with the help of two screening midfielders (Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo), then dispatch overlapping full-backs on their merry way while Kaká probes in the No10 position and Luís Fabiano scores the goals at centre-forward.
England’s strengths and weaknesses are a whole other seminar. They cannot be examined in isolation, though, because the road to the final runs through countries demonstrably better equipped to win this World Cup and because England display specific historical failings that Capello will need to cure if they are to play the same possession game as the nations who have won World Cups since 1966.
The bad news is that this requires a profound cultural shift, even if most of Capello’s starting XI are Champions League regulars. Gary Neville, who has played at five international tournaments, and is interviewed on pages 10-11, confirmed this theory while discounting the argument that England could be sunk without a Gilberto or a Melo. Or an Owen Hargreaves.
“I’ve always found in the World Cup that we can burn ourselves out because we’re playing every four days and we’re all running round like mad men when we need people to control the ball,” Neville said. “Carrick and Gerrard and Lampard and Barry – people who’ve played at clubs who control the tempo of the game – are a better bet than putting a destroyer in there.”
Capello has accentuated England’s virtues and concealed their flaws. His management will bestow on a sprinkling of world-class players their best hope since France 98 of putting 1966 in a box with 1066 and all that. But let’s see them sail through the Strait of Messina.
Administrators behaving like messiahs
The age of the celebrity administrator is here. It may be a trick of the memory but the people sent in to sort out ruined football clubs used to be like civil servants, seen but not heard. These days they behave like messiahs, sitting beside newly appointed managers at press conferences and promising to “save” the patient from extinction.
This thought occurred when Neil Warnock, who fled Crystal Palace for Queens Park Rangers, said of Brendan Guilfoyle of the P & A Partnership: “Another blow was when I was told by the administrator’s agent that I could bring in players if I got the squad down to 19.” They have agents now? Guilfoyle sat next to Paul Hart when he was unveiled as Warnock’s successor.
Down at Portsmouth, meanwhile, another insolvency specialist, Andrew Andronikou, is seldom off the television, despite Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs questioning the validity of his appointment and a high court judge saying there was “a shadow” over his nomination.
“I promise we will save your club and take you forward,” Andronikou told Pompey’s supporters. This is not the language of accountancy and cost-cutting, but then football has this narcotic effect. It makes balance-sheet jugglers think they are gods.
For full story go to here
Viv Anderson | Small Talk
The former England international on Ferrero Rocher at ambassadors’ receptions, immigration and combing armpit hair
Hello? It’s Viv Anderson.
How are you doing Viv? Fine thank you.
So you’re an ambassador for the 2018 World Cup bid … Yeah, for Nottingham.
What does that involve? Telling everybody how lovely Nottingham is really.
And how lovely is Nottingham, Viv? [Chuckling] Well obviously as you know I was born and bred there. It’s very cosmopolitan, it has close links to London, it’s only about an hour and a half on the train from there. It’s got a lot of fabulous hotels now, the city centre has many business sites, loads of pubs, so it’s a lively, vivacious place.
What’s the best pub in Nottingham? I would say the Living Room. It’s close to where friends of ours usually stay, so we often pop in there.
When you get together with the other ambassadors for the ambassadors’ reception, do they serve Ferrero Rocher? [Chuckling] No, I don’t think I’ve every had one thank you very much.
You’ve never had a Ferrero Rocher? No, never. I’ve got no chance – if I start eating sweet things I’d be the size of a mountain so no, sorry.
Still, you ambassadors must get to go to some of those infamous Fifa lunches … I haven’t been to one yet. It’s in its infancy at the moment, we put the ambassadors together over the last month or so, and we’re just doing things like this at the moment to promote the cities we’re involved in.
There aren’t any other perks to being an ambassador then? Diplomatic immunity? No, not yet.
Can England win the World Cup this year? With the qualifying campaign we had, I think people have sat up and taken notice now. Once you get through to the knockout stages, which I expect England to do, nobody – whether it be Spain, Germany, Italy or Brazil – will want to play England in a one-off knockout game. We’re quite capable of beating anybody with the people we’ve got, but on the other side of it we’re quite capable of losing. You need a bit of luck along the way. But to answer your question I’d say I think we can at least get to the semi-finals this time. I’m optimistic.
You played under Sir Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough during your career. Who gave out the worse rollickings? I think they both gave out the worst rollickings for different reasons. You wouldn’t mess with either of them, they epitomise respect from all the players who played under them and I wouldn’t want to choose between the two. If I had to choose I think Sir Alex’s venom when he really loses it could be a little bit worse, but there isn’t much in it.
What was the worst you ever received? Were you ever on the end of a particularly brutal assassination? Many times. The list is too big to go through now, but I was on the receiving end many times.
Who was the best player you played with? I always go back to Bryan Robson, who was the England captain at the time. Robson could do everything – he could pass, he could score, he could tackle, he could head. He’d do everything a central midfield player could do. The most gifted player I ever played with would be Glenn Hoddle. And Peter Shilton, who was maybe the best goalkeeper in the world at one time.
What would you have done if you hadn’t been a footballer? I know exactly what I would have done. I would have been a silk screen printer.
Said with absolute certainty … Because I was a silk screen printer. I went to Manchester United as a schoolboy for a year, came back, they said I wasn’t going to be good enough. So I went back to Nottingham, did my exams and got three CSEs and then I needed to get a job. So I left school and became a silk screen printer for literally three weeks. And Nottingham Forest said ‘come and play for our youth team’ on a Wednesday, and I signed for them a week later, and I made my debut at 17. I say I was a silk screen printer but that means a glorified tea boy really. I’d get the tea, and get the sandwiches at lunch time. I was just a dogsbody.
Do you believe you would have been still doing that today? I presume I would have been. You never know where life takes you but I presume I would have still been doing that – probably still making tea!
You could have become an actual ambassador … [Laughing] Well, that’s another story …
Are you interested in politics at all? I like to watch prime minister’s question time … and the one David Dimbleby presents … that’s also called Question Time. I’m quite interested, yes, not interested in becoming a politician, but I’m interested.
Is David Cameron the man to fix broken Britain? Erm, I think politics goes through cycles, doesn’t it – they have four or eight years, then they vote for the next one, which is always a Labour government or a Conservative one. So I think it’s time for a change.
But is Britain actually broken? Erm, probably. Well I don’t know, I wouldn’t have thought so, actually, no. Every country has its own problems don’t they? I think we’re no different to any other country really.
If you were prime minister for the day, what law would you change? I’d probably be a little bit stricter with immigration. I tried to go to America, and I tried to go to Australia, and the stringent tests you have to go through to get to these countries is really difficult. I think we’ve let a lot of people in, I think we’ve helped our society but I think there should be a lot more stringent tests for people to get in.
OK, serious question time. What’s the best thing to put on toast? For me, it’s beans.
Beans? Small Talk was expecting some kind of spread. [Genuinely delighted to catch Small Talk out] Jam! You were thinking jam weren’t you? No, I like beans on toast, having played professional sport for many years, that was my pre-match meal.
Where’s the nicest place you’ve ever eaten? [Ponders for some time] Langhams Brasserie in London. Every time I’ve been – and I’ve been going off and on for 20 years – I always enjoy the food and the atmosphere. I’ve always enjoyed it there and they’ve always made me welcome.
If you were hosting a dinner party and could invite three people, whom would it be? Nelson Mandela, for obvious reasons, because of the stories he’d be able to tell about his life. Muhammad Ali, the sportsman. And probably Winston Churchill.
No ladies at your dinner party? No. [Chuckles]
And what would you serve? Lasagne. I got into cooking after I finished playing. I think it’s quite therapeutic to cook, so I cook for the family.
Do aliens exist? I think something exists, yes. I think there has got to be another life form besides ourselves in the universe.
What about ghosts? I’m not sure about ghosts. I’ve not seen one.
Which would you be more scared to discover in your living room at 4am one morning? [Matter of factly] A ghost.
Last question then Viv, what was the best dressing-room prank you saw as a footballer? A colleague of mine, Terry Curran, borrowed somebody’s washbag to get some underarm spray, but it turned out to be hair remover. So he sprayed it under his arms and literally three days later he combed his hair and it all fell out in big chunks.
He was combing the hair in his armpit?! No, he was combing his normal hair. He put it under his arms, went home, didn’t think about it and then a couple of days later he was combing his hair and it came out in chunks. He couldn’t understand why until we told him two days later that he used the wrong thing under his arms.
Brilliant. Thanks very much Viv. Thanks a lot. Bye bye.
Viv Anderson is an England 2018 ambassador. You can join Viv in Backing the Bid by texting ‘ENGLAND’ to 62018 or by visiting www.england2018bid.com where you can also find the latest bid news, video and imagery. Fans can play a major role in England’s bid by demonstrating the country’s unrivalled passion for football to the world. Hundreds of thousands of fans from more than 140 countries have already backed the bid and high-profile supporters include David Beckham, Lewis Hamilton, Amir Khan, Sting and Noel Gallagher.
For full story go to here
Good news for Fabio Capello and England: at least they’re not French | Richard Williams
England might be the best of Europe’s former World Cup winners, but Spain and Brazil look in a league of their own
Jeers for Germany in defeat at home to Argentina, derision aimed by the Parisian crowd at France in losing to Spain, a desultory goalless draw for Italy with Cameroon in Monaco – at least only one England player was booed at Wembley on Wednesday night, and even that piece of personalised dissent had subsided by the time Fabio Capello’s side took the lead against Egypt with a quarter of an hour to go.
A mixed night, then, for Europe’s reigning and former World Cup winners, with nine titles between them. Vicente del Bosque’s Spain, never better than semi-finalists, now look even more like the continent’s most promising contenders – perhaps followed by Holland, twice finalists but never winners, who beat the United States in Amsterdam.
Capello’s England remain a puzzle, with many questions, some of them fundamental, unanswered only three months ahead of their opening group match. As the Italian watched Brazil dispose of the Republic of Ireland with a confident second-half performance at the Emirates Stadium on Tusday night, he must have envied the relative calmness and logic with which Dunga has been able to marshal and prepare his forces.
Not that the Brazilian coach is without his noisy critics. There were placards around the Emirates demanding to know why he refuses to select Ronaldinho and Pato, but afterwards he was firm in his implied dismissal of the two Milan forwards. “Most players in Brazil are talented,” he said. “But we don’t live on talent. We live on results.” He left no doubt that he had made his dispositions, and that only an act of God would force him to reconsider his judgement.
Dunga and Capello have a lot in common. Both were pragmatic midfield players to whom aesthetics mattered not at all. The Brazilian has a simple philosophy, which he summarised this week. “First victory,” he said, “then a good way of playing.” You can imagine Capello thinking the same thing, although he would probably be a bit subtler in the way he expressed it. Dunga’s intransigence is necessary to keep at bay the hordes of highly opinionated compatriots who voice an opinion on his every move – “the 150 million selectors back home”, as his predecessor Carlos Alberto Parreira put it a few weeks before taking Brazil to USA ‘94 and their fourth championship.
That team was captained by Dunga, and he was saying the same sort of thing then as Brazil made their way to the final through a series of distinctly unbeguiling performances. Even the presence of Romário and Bebeto could not make the 1994 side into a thing of beauty, with Parreira relegating Rai, the svelte playmaker, to the substitutes’ bench after the group matches and resisting a national outcry against his decision to leave the 17-year-old Ronaldo on the sidelines throughout the tournament. Dunga has seen at first hand the benefit of draining the sentiment and romance out of such dilemmas.
In that tournament Parreira pioneered the use of two defensive midfielders, a move that provoked unrest among the 150 million back home. Dunga was paired with Mauro Silva ahead of a conventional back four, just as the superbly alert Felipe Melo and the terrific old warhorse Gilberto Silva locked the doors in front of a magnificently athletic defensive quartet against the Irish in north London. And when Kaká and Robinho are deployed in the advanced midfield positions, as Parreira had Zinho and Mazinho, there is always going to be something worth watching. Stung by a couple of impolite Irish tackles, Kaka was sensational in Wednesday’s second half, forgetting his indifferent form in Madrid and gradually taking over the game.
Once Grafite had replaced the ponderous Adriano in the lone striker’s role, Brazil’s combinations started to come off and culminated in the flickering rapid-fire move, involving three men, five exchanges and two backheels, from which Robinho – who seemed to have been informed during the interval that this was a home game – doubled their lead.
Although pre-tournament friendlies are perennially unreliable as indicators of eventual form in the real thing, you would certainly rather be in Dunga’s shoes than Capello’s. But then Capello would rather be in his own shoes than in those of Raymond Domenech, whose continuing presence as France’s head coach remains an utter mystery. At least Capello has some decent qualifying performances to look back on, along with the players’ respect and the goodwill of the public. How Domenech must be wishing that he could reach into the past and coax the irreplaceable Zinedine Zidane back into action once again.
The poor form of Joachim Löw’s Germany’s can be virtually discounted, since they are always capable of rising to the demands of a World Cup’s final stages. But Argentina’s win, with a goal from Gonzalo Higuaín, suggests that Diego Maradona’s chaotic regime may spring a surprise, even with Juan Román Riquelme languishing at home, the 35-year-old Juan Sebastián Verón pulling the strings, and Carlos Tevez and Sergio Agüero left on the bench.
Like his compatriot Marcello Lippi, who tried out a back three for the first time against Cameroon, Capello is still experimenting with formations and combinations, hoping to get lucky. It must be comforting to be a Brazilian fan and to know that Dunga makes his decisions with such clarity of vision (and, of course, abundance of resources), while Maradona’s appeal to his players’ emotions may turn out to be Argentina’s most unanswerable weapon. But sometimes, as we know, the most effective teams discover their shape and character during the tournament itself. And the World Cup is seldom won by the most gifted team, which England patently are not.
For full story go to here
Football Weekly Extra: England flatter to deceive again
James welcomes Kevin McCarra, Paul Doyle and Barry Glendenning up to near-earth-orbit to thrash out the week’s football news.
Keeper Essam El Hadari and a linesman error helped England to a 3-1 win over African Champions Egypt, but what did we learn from the friendly? And has John Terry lost his form at the worst possible time?
After Scotland throw the kilt-wearing monkey off their backs by winning a home friendly after 5,000 odd days, the pod wonder whether new manager Craig Leven is the best man for the job.
As Spain win their 41st game out of 45, Sid Lowe gushes at great length about the wonderflulness of the European Champions. Passports permitting, would any of England’s players get in the Spanish squad?
There’s also news of crowd trouble between different PSG ultra groups, blasphemy in Italy and the Red Knights that may or may not like to say ‘Ni’.
Have a listen and post your thoughts on the blog below. We’re also on iTunes, Facebook, and Twitter, and if you like this type of juvenile humour, get your daily dose with our tea-timely email, The Fiver.
For full story go to here
England move ahead of Argentina to eighth place in latest Fifa rankings
• Spain remain top in front of Brazil and Holland
• Germany move to fifth ahead of Portugal
England have moved up one place to eighth in the latest Fifa rankings by swapping places with Argentina.
Fabio Capello’s side face Africa Cup of Nations champions Egypt, who have dropped seven places to 17th, at Wembley this evening.
Germany switch places with Portugal to move up to fifth while Euro 2004 champions Greece (10th) are back in the top 10 for the first time since June 2008.
Spain remain in first place ahead of Brazil and Holland, while The Republic of Ireland have dropped two places to 39th with Northern Ireland up one place in 40th. Scotland have also moved up one place to 45th but Wales remain 76th.
For full story go to here
Fabio Capello warns England players to keep private lives under control
• England manager says good behaviour is paramount
• Steven Gerrard says squad will follow Capello instructions
Fabio Capello has warned his England players that they must make sacrifices off the pitch over the next three months to avoid any repeat of the recent controversies that have threatened to deflect the national team’s attention from this summer’s World Cup finals.
The Italian pinpointed the wealth lavished on young players in the modern game as the root of the problems which have flared up too often to wreck the reputations of the likes of Ashley Cole and John Terry, his deposed captain, over the past month.
The England manager will seek evidence that standards have not slipped on the pitch against Egypt this evening having reminded his squad of their wider responsibilities with the team’s first game in the World Cup, against the United States, only 100 days away.
“The private life is a big problem for some players, but also a big problem for their clubs and, in the end, for me,” said Capello. “It’ll be really important that the players, in this last period [before the World Cup], are careful in their own private lives at every moment. These are important players and they have to be an example to the children and all the fans. For that reason, they have to stay careful and sacrifice something in their lives.”
Asked whether he was being unrealistic by expecting players not to give in to temptation off the pitch, the England coach said: “Why? We hope not, no. I remember in Spain, players would go to the disco and sometimes drink something, but they did not have big problems with different players, different girls, different women. These are young players, young boys, but rich boys… this is the problem.
“It’s not only here that it is a problem. In Italy, in Germany, in Spain – in every country where football is so important, like it is here – it’s the same problem. But I think the next three months will be OK for all my players.”
The ruthless sacking of Terry proved that Capello does not merely deliver empty threats, as the players acknowledged following his warning before training on Monday. “All the players take it as read what the manager says,” said Steven Gerrard, who will captain the side tonight for the first time in two years. “We understand what he wants from us. We listen and take note.
“The manager’s talk was short and sweet and told us to focus on the football. He reiterated that we have responsibilities as players both on and off the pitch. We are in the spotlight but we’ve got to behave. Everyone is aware of that. The manager has taken the decision to take the captaincy off John. It’s a tough job being the England manager and you’ve got to make big decisions. He’s done that and we all follow.”
Terry will start this evening’s match against the Africa Cup of Nations winners, the first of three friendlies before England begin their World Cup campaign in Rustenburg on 12 June, with Capello urging the Wembley crowd not to barrack the former captain.
The Italian, who will name his provisional squad for the finals on 11 May, insisted he was unperturbed by the recent uncharacteristic errors that have crept into the Chelsea centre-half’s game, mistakes that led to goals for Everton, Internazionale and Manchester City most notably.
The England coach is expected to speak with Terry individually before kick-off tonight, the pair’s first tête-à-tête since their 12-minute meeting at Wembley last month during which the defender was relieved of his duties. “Usually, I speak with a lot of players individually,” said Capello. “His training has been really good, and his form is without problems.”
The Italian added that he still hopes City’s Wayne Bridge will reconsider his decision to retire from international football ahead of the finals, but expressed some concern over the continued absence of his new permanent captain, Rio Ferdinand, who is recovering from yet another back injury.
“I went to Manchester and met him, and spoke with Sir Alex [Ferguson] and I know what’s happened,” said Capello. “I spoke with [the United chief executive] David Gill at Wembley and he told me it’s not the same problem. He told me this. I don’t know. I hope he will be fit in a short time because he needs to play. Only when you play games can you find good form.”
Capello will finalise his selection today but is moving towards reinstating Rob Green in goal and offering Leighton Baines a debut at left-back in the absence of the injured Ashley Cole. Theo Walcott, who has not played for his country all season, will earn a ninth cap with Capello having taken the Arsenal winger to one side to pep his confidence and urge him to position himself wide on the touchline against Egypt tonight.
Gerrard added: “This game is a fantastic opportunity to show the fans and everyone around the world that we’re still united, we’re still one, we’re still a strong team and we’ve got a very good chance come the summer.”
For full story go to here
‘John Terry will not captain England again,’ says Fabio Capello
• Terry sacked as captain after failing ‘to set an example’
• England manager will ask Wayne Bridge to reconsider
Fabio Capello has told John Terry that the Chelsea player will never captain England again while he is in charge and says he has not given up hope of Wayne Bridge returning to international duty.
The England manager stripped Terry of the honour following revelations of the defender’s alleged affair with the mother of Wayne Bridge’s young son.
The speculation surrounding Terry’s relationship with Vanessa Perroncel proved to be so hurtful for Bridge that he now feels his position within the England squad is “untenable” and has no longer made himself available for international duty.
Capello is still hoping Bridge will change his mind. However, the manager has made it perfectly clear it will not be at Terry’s expense, even if there is no way he can ever be restored to his former status.
“Until the World Cup, John Terry will not be the captain again,” said Capello. “After the World Cup? If I remain as England manager? I think not.
“I asked for the captain to set an example for the young people; for the children and the fans. What he did was not good. I told him this and he understood.
“But I took the decision only because of what happened with Wayne Bridge, nothing else. I didn’t ever consider taking John Terry out of the squad, just as I didn’t decide to take Wayne Bridge out.
“And I don’t believe the other players will have lost respect for him because they know his leadership qualities.”
Capello has never really understood the English fascination with who captains the team. To him, it was perfectly straightforward Rio Ferdinand should step up, just as Steven Gerrard will take over against Egypt on Wednesday now the Manchester United man has been ruled out with a back injury.
Equally, past experience makes it easy to stress Terry’s role within his squad essentially remains the same.
“In Spain or Italy, the captain is the oldest player or the one with the most caps,” said Capello. “Here it is different. You look at the captain in a different way.
“To me, being a leader is more important than being the captain. John Terry is a leader. I have asked him to be the same. He will be the same. He will be a leader without wearing the armband.”
Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines will be given the chance to take Bridge’s place next week.
Once Wednesday’s game is out of the way, and the dust has settled on Bridge’s meeting with Terry at Stamford Bridge, Capello hopes the full-back will look at the situation again.
He will doubtless speak with the 29-year-old, as his assistant Franco Baldini has already done, to try to emphasise that Bridge’s perception of the situation does not square with Capello’s.
Not that the Italian is guaranteed success. After all, he approached a far more straightforward problem in trying to persuade Jamie Carragher he did have a worthwhile role to play with England and met with a straight no.
“We all look at life with a different vision,” said Capello. “It is his opinion that it is better for the squad that he is not there. I think he could stay with us without a problem. I don’t think it is in the best interests of the squad at all for him not to be there. But it is his decision, anything else is not important.”
For someone renowned as a strict disciplinarian, Capello seems remarkably laid-back in his attitude to player behaviour, which seems to be spiralling out of control.
Asked if he worries about it, he shakes his head. There is only one thing that bothers him.
“There things are not good for the fans or the players. But I am not concerned. I hope when I decide the squad the best players are fit. This is what concerns me. Not these problems.”
And not the Wags (Wives and girlfriends) either.
Capello could hardly have failed to notice the parade of glamorous females on show in Baden-Baden during England’s last World Cup campaign.
The Bafokeng complex, England’s base for this summer’s tournament in South Africa does not offer much in the way of outside interests, and as Capello is not interested in anything that goes on outside that area, wives and girlfriends are not on his radar.
“I know it was the virus of the last World Cup,” said Capello. “I hope it won’t be like that again.
“I don’t know where the Wags will stay. Out of the training ground is far enough for me. What happens outside the training ground and outside the pitch is not important.”
For full story go to here
Fabio Capello says lack of home players hurts England
• Wayne Rooney is one of three best young players in world
• ‘I cannot select Michael Owen if he does not play’
The scarcity of English players in the Premier League is a problem for the national team and Wayne Rooney is one of the three best young players in the world but needs to get in the penalty box more, according to an interview with the England coach, who also told the Gazzetta dello Sport that, no, he does not dye his hair.
Fabio Capello said Rooney and Lionel Messi were the “two young players anyone would want in their team, together with Cristiano Ronaldo … Wayne is extraordinary, he has talent and desire to learn. Ferguson taught him a lot, I’ve only had to refine details.
“I’ve told him that goals are best scored within the 12-metre zone. Besides, Ronaldo’s departure from Manchester has made him more responsible. At United he is much more involved now”
Capello also revealed he felt pressure to pick Rooney’s occasional Manchester United striking partner Michael Owen for the World Cup “given that he is the best England goalscorer of all time”. “But I cannot select him if he does not play”.
Asked if his mission would be completed with a World Cup semi-final spot, Capello said it would “be good, but I am never content, even if in the Premer League there are only 38 percent English players, against 67 percent of Italy and 63 percent of Spain. As to our opponents, I will only say that those who have most impressed me are Brazil and Spain”.
He also revealed he wants to win, irrespective of style. “Every national side plays according to their characteristics and the kind of entertainment they like. But, as someone said, “Winning is all that matters”.
His no-nonsense image was also reinforced by two admissions: firstly that he is strongly against swearing on the pitch (“But if they use TV evidence for this, they should use it for all that happens on the pitch as well”) and that contrary to rumour he does not dye his hair: “No, unfortunately for those who think I do. I do not need to.”
For full story go to here
John Toshack to sound out Wales team over venue for England qualifier
• Millennium Stadium may be shunned in favour of smaller venue
• Toshack predicts nations will struggle to agree fixture dates
The Wales manager, John Toshack, will consult his players before deciding whether to play their home Euro 2012 qualifier with England in the Millennium Stadium or a smaller and more intimidating ground.
Wales are in the same group as Fabio Capello’s side in addition to Switzerland, Montenegro and Bulgaria. Holding the match at the Millennium Stadium, with its capacity of nearly 75,000, would mean more revenue and less headaches in terms of security.
Toshack, however, admits other options to consider are the new Cardiff City Stadium (capacity 27,000) and Swansea’s Liberty complex (22,000) where they host Sweden in a friendly on 3 March.
Toshack said: “Things have changed a bit recently for us. We have got two other stadiums now. We were well pleased with the treatment we got from the Cardiff people when we played Scotland there recently.
“Swansea have a new stadium as well and we have been treated well there and play Sweden there shortly. You have to consider the atmosphere factor as well. It is early days yet. We have a fixture meeting on 15 March when it will be decided what dates we play but you don’t have to announce the venue until 90 days before a fixture.
“I will be interested to get the players’ views on that subject as well so we have got a little bit of time to decide.”
Toshack concedes England will be favourites to qualify but believes the battle for second spot is wide open. “Looking at our group, I think it is the most wide open of all of them. England will be clear favourites but I think the other four nations are all in contention.
“Between the four of us there is not a great deal to choose at all. It is difficult for anyone to predict the positions the teams will finish in. There are no ‘gimme’ fixtures for anyone. England are favourites but none of the teams are superpowers.”
Toshack locked horns with Capello just once when rival managers in Spain during the 1990s, but believes he can lead England to a successful World Cup.
“I sat next to Capello on the plane on the way over for the draw yesterday and we had a good two and a half hour conversation. On the way back he sat at the back, I sat at the front and we never said a word.
“Seriously, I am sure there will be an awful lot of interest in the game and I can see them having a good World Cup as well. Hopefully they will come back with 10 injuries and we can pick them off in September. You never know. For our players, the prospect of playing England at Wembley is a terrific incentive. If our young players get more game time in, and progress as we think they are capable of, it will be great.”
Toshack’s main concern is that Wales have more luck with injuries than in their World Cup qualifying campaign. “When you look at us and England, we have 11 players who play in the Premier League and two of them are goalkeepers. You can see the difficulties we have with four or five injuries. We need a bit of good fortune on the injury front which we never had the last time around.
“If we make mistakes or pick the wrong team, or concede late on, that’s down to us, but we would just hope to have our best players available.”
Toshack believes it will be more difficult for teams to come to an agreement over when to stage fixtures given the new guidelines which allow weekend games to be played on Friday or Saturday and all midweek fixtures on Tuesdays.
“I can see that being difficult this time around for all the groups. I can see a lot of these meetings to decide the fixtures being thrown out and it all going to Uefa to decide. A lot of countries are not accustomed to playing on Friday evening and won’t want Saturday-Tuesday either.
“In this country, our players are accustomed to playing Saturday-Tuesdays so I can see fixture meetings this time around having a lot of problems and not being easy to come to an agreement.”
For full story go to here
Football Weekly podcast: Different season, but same old Big Four
In a line-up that’s every bit as unsurprising as the top four in the Premier League, James Richardson is joined in the pod by Barry Glendenning and Sean Ingle in another rip-roaring edition of Football Weekly.
The pod squad analyse Chelsea’s demolition of Arsenal, Liverpool’s bruising battle with Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur’s snoozefest with Aston Villa and ask: why are we getting another dose of the same old same old?
Also in the show – and lest we be accussed of Big Four-centricity – we discuss Hull City’s recent revival now that Phil Brown ditched the earpiece and the goatee.
Plus, we ponder whether Fabio Capello’s done the right thing in stripping John Terry of the England captaincy. And we get dewy-eyed about those Brat Pack movies of the 1980s.
Finally, our favourite Teuton Raphael Honigstein brings us news of a rift in the German national team and the latest from the Bundesliga; Sid Lowe brings us up to date with Spain’s La Liga; and Jimbo tells us about Lazio’s mounting woes in Serie A.
Have a listen and post your thoughts on the blog below. We’re also on iTunes, Facebook, and Twitter, and if you like this type of juvenile humour, get your daily dose with our tea-timely email, The Fiver.
