Klinsmann, van Basten, Dunga, Maradona - international football management, like policing and judging dance contests, seems to have become a young person’s game of late, with recently-retired legends heading straight to the dugout, and more often than not, tarnishing their reputations.
Not next summer however. In an unusually high-calibre field, (probably due to the young managers trend seeping down to club level - Ferrara, Leonardo, Guardiola etc) there may be as many as six managers at South Africa 2010, who have won the greatest prize in club football, the European Cup.
It’s only taken five thousand eight hundred and fifty games for everyone to twig that Lampsie and Gerrard simply can’t stand one another so would rather spend the game falling over, slicing the ball, or simply staring mindlessly into the stands than actually forming a decent partnership, so one of them has to go. On current form, that one would be Stevie G. He might be much easier to like, but on current club form, Lampsie is one of the best in the world. Perhaps Capello would be wise to consider having them playing alternate games? Food for thought. Elsewhere on Wednesday, The Spoiler would give left footer Downing an outing, if only to give the side a sense of balance. Upson can sit this one out in the dugout, pondering his stuttering display at the weekend, with Brown shifting inside, and Glen Johnson adding a bit more flair and speed to the right flank. Plus, of course, Wayne Bridge comes in for that injured little oik, Mr Cheryl Cole.
The scoreline flattered to deceive, England were horrendous against Kazakhstan. Barely a decent string of passes were strung, and half of the players had the look of men who’d rather be anywhere else other than playing at home for England. On the plus side, lessons are there to be learned for Capello, and here’s what we know:
1. Rooney must play in the centre of the front line, that’s where he scores goals from.
2. Upson looks shaky, so if JT’s going to insist in getting injured we need sufficient back up. Capello, get Carragher on the phone - Woodgate and King are too injury prone.
It’s a bit depressing seeing child stars grow old. In Hollywood they famously turn to hard drugs and selling their bodies just to feel loved. In Premier League football, they go to Newcastle and become really straight faced and humourless. Just look at Michael Owen and Nicky Butt. Now wearing a fixed furrow in his brow, has Michael Owen really lost the sparkle that made him so pleasurable in an England shirt? And, more importantly, has Capello made the right move by leaving him out his squad altogether?
Everyone has been bleating and blathering about how it took courage for Terry to stand up and take the dreaded fifth penalty in the Champions League final. What bottle, they weep, moved by his bravery. And yet, have they forgotten what actually happened? The guy missed it. It was a BAD decision to take it.
The serial blogger may have got the maths slightly wrong
David Beckham took time out of his intensive training schedule yesterday to post a blog on his official website:
I am sure you will have read a lot of Mr Capello’s call to leave me out of the squad but in truth I admire him as a manager and respect his decision. In his explanation, he said that it was purely down to match fitness and that it was unfair to the other players, competing week in and week out for their clubs, to include me in the squad.
A lot has been made of my trips to Sierra Leone and Brazil but these were only a total of four days in six weeks. I postponed my holidays to spend five days a week training with Arsenal and I did everything possible make myself available for England.
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