All in the Game #1 – On Terry, Rooney, Lampard and the England Captaincy

A World Cup year doesn’t really need any extra assistance in placing football at the forefront of the public consciousness but, my word, hasn’t the start of 2010 been particularly breath-taking on and off the pitch.

The African Cup of Nations delivered for fans of the game, particularly in the latter stages. If you followed the tournament as I did, by connecting to this site on a regular basis you would have been well informed of many of the drama enhancing intricacies of the match-ups.

The final (as those in major tournaments often are) was a tense affair that didn’t reflect the excellence of the knock-out stages but how unquestionably big an achievement of Egypt’s was it? I shamefacedly admit that I never categorise the nation along with the Ivory Coast or Nigeria but the record shows who the continent’s strongest team is. The question now must be: Why have they not produced on the global stage?

Summation of the tournament cannot be passed without mention of Togo’s ‘disqualification’. After such an ordeal, bringing the integrity of the squad into question through the panicked mishandling of the aftermath was a debilitating error. Surely compassion was the order of the day?

My one nagging complaint with the tournament is the lack of exposure it gets throughout the world, particularly in Europe. The overriding factor is the time of the year it is staged. If a World Cup final can be held in the Pasadena Rose Bowl in July then why not move the contest to the summer? What would be ideal is to have the continental trophies take place in alternating years leading to the World Cup. Surely that would make the competition’s identity stronger?

If the event was to be held in our close season then desire for coverage would be greater. This year’s final took place at around the same time Arsenal vs. Manchester United was playing. We also wouldn’t have the problem of releasing players from their clubs and with the density of African talent in our professional leagues it is a notable issue.

Dad of the Year

Onto an issue that has absolutely nothing and completely everything to do with football all at the same time: Good ol’ J.T. ‘Lion of defence, paragon of fatherhood, absent minded parking space selector.’

Would the private life of England’s newly-dropped captain be such an issue if he hadn’t attempted a gagging order? The media has a wonderful way of raising it’s middle finger to those who attempt to deny sales that will subsequently enable the story and all those sprouting grotesquely from it to continue to grow and thrive.

Should he be captain? I think that has been in question since Steve McClaren gave him the armband. Will his stripping of the captaincy and the ensuing, long-gestating debate be harmful to the England team in a year when any sort of distraction is even more unwelcome? Yes, undoubtedly.

Was Wayne Bridge going to make it to South Africa on playing merit? Probably not with the way Stephen Warnock has been playing for Aston Villa.

If public opinion strongly opposed the Chelsea defender leading the nation’s team into the tournament then there would have been a fractious split between the squad and its supporters should the ‘band of brothers’ have rallied round their former on-pitch leader. England players have shown before that they can have an unrealistically high opinion of themselves, as when political revolutionary Gary Neville led his brothers into a dignified silence against the press.

In my view it was definitely the right decision to get rid of Terry as captain. Fabio Capello’s strong-armed decision has only enhanced his position as England’s top dog. As far as the replacement – Rio Ferdinand – goes though, I am not so sure.

For a replacement to be made, a safe pair of hands was required and not necessarily our best player. If you cross codes then Jonny Wilkinson and Andrew Flintoff didn’t benefit from the added responsibility. I was very happy that Wayne Rooney didn’t get the job. The player can inspire by what he does on the pitch, he doesn’t need to do anything else. We shouldn’t burden our best chance of victory.

If Frank Lampard could have been persuaded to take on a role previously held by a team mate and friend then it should have gone to him. He has grown into a level headed, intelligent player who I feel would be a sensible, calming influence. He can’t give a ‘We’ll fight them on the beaches’ style rousing address, but not to worry, Stuart Pearce is in the dressing room.

England’s Number 1

With the negativity of the aforementioned already seeping into my excitement for the World Cup there is one thing making me smile. As any Italian coach will tell you: Wayne Rooney is in a good moment of form. Watching him over the last six weeks or so has been watching somebody ready to take on the world. If ever I was to thank Cristiano Ronaldo for anything it would be for preening off to Madrid. Manchester United may have shown some signs of missing him but the boy has not.

If we ever needed to protect somebody from injury (see my 23 for 2010 column) then he is that player. Watching him play for over 7 years now makes it clear that he hates missing a second of playing time and I’m sure Sir Alex Ferguson will want him to miss even less, so all England supporters should hope and pray in whatever way appropriate that he doesn’t burn out.

In reference to the above, it is very helpful that Manchester United were
dispatched with aplomb by a passionate Leeds United from the F.A. Cup. Chelsea aside, the obvious favourites are gone and a whole host of Premier League teams have been similarly eliminated.

2010 has been a really positive year for cup competitions so far. The League Cup semi finals were as entertaining as any game in recent memory (thanks in no small part to Carlos Tevez) and without any obvious ‘money’ ties the enthusiasm for the foremost cup competitions seems to be renewed. I’m still holding out for a classic final and will quite happily eat my slice of humble pie when my prediction for the final went down with Arsenal.

As always, I value any comments that you may have as they are often the basis for further discussion.

England, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Steve Candy, Wayne Rooney