Tuesday 9 February 2010

England Expects


Given the events of the past seven days, it was probably quite the relief for Fabio Capello to get back to attending to ‘football matters’ this weekend.

The draw for the qualifying groups for the 2012 European Championships must have provided a welcome distraction from having to read about the extra marital antics of his now ex-captain. It will also no doubt have pleased the Italian that a tough week didn’t get any more challenging, as England must be highly satisfied with the fixtures that will shape their post World Cup schedule.

Over the course of the week, Capello must have been somewhat bemused to have found himself holding the role of ‘moral guardian’ of England, such have been the calls for the manager to dispense with the captain that had just seen him through a successful qualifying campaign. It must have been reassuring to the 63 year old to return to the far more mundane role of ‘national team manager’ on Sunday.

The Polish capital of Warsaw provided a welcome change of scene on a day when further tales of John Terry’s misdemeanors were splashed all over the tabloids. It was very much the England manager’s desire that events on the pitch be the main talking points of the day, and that was perhaps just as well, given that I’m not sure that discussions around the tawdry private lives of modern footballers was quite what the building used for the draw, the wonderfully titled ‘Palace of Culture and Science’ was ever quite intended for.

Capello’s week will have improved though, knowing that England look to have secured what should be a relatively straight forward route to the finals being held in Poland and the Ukraine in two years time. Debates can be made over ‘quality versus quantity’ but being placed in one of the three groups of five teams brings with it less chance for any embarrassing banana skins and removes one more potentially tricky away game. He will also be happy knowing that of the four other sides England have been drawn against only one is a fellow qualifier for this year’s World Cup.

Switzerland will be the toughest of the Group G opponents, a side who have been regular qualifiers for major tournaments over the last decade and a side who can potentially dip into a growing pool of exciting young prospects. Drawn from across many of the different nationalities that make up the Swiss population and from the many immigrant communities that have settled in the country, the Swiss were recently victorious at the Under 17 World Cup. They are a growing, if yet still unspectacular force, and in meeting them Capello will be able to chart English process, given that they were the opposition back in the Italian’s first game in charge.

Given past pedigree, the other closest challenge to qualification would appear to be from Bulgaria. However they possess a far from vintage crop of players, and aside from the Premier League’s Berbatov and Petrov there is little to think that the current lineup can come anywhere close to emulating the ‘golden generation’ of the mid 1990’s.

Much may also be made of the fact that England has been drawn alongside local neighbors Wales, with the argument being put forward that an intense battle over local pride could provide a potential hazard to any successful navigation of the group. Indeed Capello himself was keen to stress that the two games against the Welsh will not be easy affairs; "But he (John Toshack) was also telling me how Wales are a young team, their average age is 22 years old, and it will be a very interesting game, for me and England. They have good, young players, and derbies are never normal games. But it is a difficult group. We won't be able to play a single qualifying game relaxed.”

Wales do have a number of talented young players and many may point to the fact that England (in)famously came unstuck when faced with another local rival in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, when Sven Goran Eriksson’s men went down 1-0 in a hostile atmosphere in Belfast. Wales too were part of that campaign however and the fact remains that they were dispatched fairly comfortably, which again remains the likely conclusion. No doubt a stirring atmosphere can work to level any playing pitch but given the Welsh’s recent disastrous international form, Capello must be confident that the two local fixtures will provide a maximum six points.

Indeed whilst Group G may be conspicuously lacking any of the true minnows, your Luxembourg’s and Andorra’s of this world, it is perhaps the least heralded of the nations that has the potential for causing the most problems. There will have been relief at the absence of any trips to the farthest reaches of the continent, however the visit to Montenegro could provide a stern test. Despite still being in relative infancy, the Montenegrin national side proved dangerous opponents in their first shot at trying to qualify for a major tournament last time out. Possessing a number of talented and technically gifted players, including Roma striker Mirko Vucinic and teen sensation Stevan Jovetic of Fiorentina they have the potential to cause a shock. Indeed just ask Liverpool fans how much damage Jovetic can cause.

Given the rather painless and straight forward qualifying campaign for the World Cup this summer, it is arguable that the past week has been Capello’s toughest in the England managers’ hot seat so far. He will no doubt be pleased then, that following on from a tumultuous period, that when it comes to matters to be decided on the pitch, things are once again looking rosy.

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