Can England Win The World Cup Under Fabio Capello?
England – Storming to South Africa (photo: Tom Jenkins)It is almost impossible not to be hugely impressed with England’s performance against Croatia last night. 5-1 is a telling marker of domination at any level, but in a game the visitors were clearly up for (pre-match at least) to so casually and comfortably dispatch of a team ranked 9th best in the world is no mean feat. The three lions truly roared their way to South Africa.
The Croatian camp had a lot to say before the game. Like this from coach Slaven Bilic:
“They [...] are missing something from their game. They are missing some Englishness, some of the things that have always made England teams difficult to defend against and play against. All I will say is that they are definitely missing something and we know what it is. But of course I am not going to tell you now what it is. It is our secret.”
Whatever secret knowledge Bilic claims to have been hiding must have been left behind on the plane to England. Fabio Capello for his part turned the lack of ‘Englishness’ jibes around perfectly, citing it as the perfect motivation for his players. “Thank you, Mr Bilic,” Capello said. “It is the best. I have no need to motivate my players after this. It’s fantastic assistance.”
As far as taking the opponents’ weapons and using it against them goes it would have made Sun Tzu proud.
Certainly Capello seems schooled in the Art of War. Having already won an abundance of major honours during an illustrious coaching career he has turned the England national team around so drastically they look unrecognisable to the nervous team that lost impotently to these same opponents a little under two years ago.
At Wembley last night they were spritely, energetic and full of swagger. Aaron Lennon fizzed down the right hand side vivaciously. The midfield were dominant – indeed under Capello the oft-debated argument over whether Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can play together has become practically redundant. They are utilised differently now and here both scored twice.
Wayne Rooney was effervescent as ever, on a night he broke the record England tally of eight goals in a qualifying campaign set by Tommy Taylor, who died in the Munich air crash before the 1958 World Cup. Question marks still hang over the first choice keeper, but England’s ruthless efficiency was too much for the Croats.
I was mightily impressed by England and have been for some time now. Glancing round the candidates in the build-up to South Africa 2010, when looking at potential World Cup winners at this present moment I cannot see past either England, Spain or Brazil. Germany always rise to the occasion in tournament football so they too cannot be overlooked, but individually the aforementioned three have players of a higher calibre than the Germans. Holland? Often the reverse of Germany; magnificent individual talents but they tend to wilt at crucial moments on the big stage. I am not convinced.
Of course having qualified there will be a lot of hype around the national team in England now. ‘Get De Beers in!’ was the Sun’s magnanimous front page headline. But given the way Capello’s side are playing and the quality of the rest of the candidates heading to South Africa, it probably is fair to ask the question. Can England win the World Cup under Fabio Capello?
We’re opening up a poll here for you to cast your vote on how far England will go at South Africa 2010. Let us know if you think Capello’s men can triumph and bring home the World Cup for the first time since 1966. And if you think England will falter, as they usually do, let us know why.
Croatia, England, Fabio Capello, Frank Lampard, Polls, Slaven Bilic, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, World Cup 2010Share This Post!
About Jonathan F
The boss of this here... Creator and Editor of Just-Football.com and world football analyst, watcher, freelancer and all-round enthusiast. Write for FourFourTwo, have also written for ITV, When Saturday Comes and others. Open to offers.
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I'm going to throw my 2 cents in… one thing is to play qualifying matches and another is winning a world cup. example: Argetina @WC 2006, they qualified with 42 points!!! but they didn't win…
but i do agree that England look brillant, maybe its the new Umbro kits?
Like the Dutch, of which I'm one, England is basically and fundamentally a quarter-final team with an outside chance of getting further than that. Brazil, Italy and Germany are always gonna be there or abouts, but England, like Holland, Spain, Sweden or Portugal, are potentially capable of causing an upset, if the team gels and sufficient luck falls their way. But failing to win, or even to reach the finals or the semis, would not mean "faltering", as you say in your last sentence; it would just be the natural order of things.
@ Robbert – interesting to hear your thoughts on the matter, thanks for leaving a comment
I guess the obvious question based on what you're saying is: what exactly is the natural order of things? Or how is it defined?
Because in early World Cup history Uruguay were top of the international football food chain, but that natural order soon changed.
Fair point. I suppose for me it would be the accumulation of past results. Of course past results are no guarantees for the future, but if and when it happens often enough, it at least makes it more likely to happen again. Which is why I'm not all that convinced yet Spain will do well in the World Cup. They have such a longstanding history of choking that for me it remains to be seen if they can repeat Euro 2008, however great a team they are.
Over the course of 18 World Cups, Germany managed a spot in the final 4 no less than 11 times, whilst Brazil got there 10 times and Italy 8 times. If you compare that to England (2 times) and the Netherlands (3 times), I think it's fair to say that historically the latter teams aren't as likely to challenge for the win as the other three are. So how come both English and Dutch fans invariably consider a quarter final result to be a disappointment, a mishap? The term "perennial underachievers" is a pet hate of mine. If the team always performs below expectations, then there's something wrong with the expectations, not necessarily with the team.
With regard to your last paragraph; yeah, you're right, the natural order does change, but not all that rapidly, as far as I'm concerned.
I see what you're saying Robbert. In fact I wholeheartedly agree with your last point – the way in which we assign expectations based on things other than actual performances can grate over time. Like you say, how can England be underachievers if they haven't actually achieved anything in over 40 years?!
Perhaps their reputation should be based on performances over the years rather than the arguably unrealistic expectations attributed to them by chest-beating, blinkered newspapers and patriotic football fans.
That said in the last 2 World Cups England and arguably Holland too have probably had squads good enough to win the competition, so accusing them of faltering mightn't be too inaccurate…
England have a winning team. Had a different coach been in charge, then they would be back in the same old pit of defeatism as in the past. Now that they have Capello it will be, "Look out South Africa, here we come!"
Jim