Its taken a while, but I finally felt I should talk about it.
After running over Croatia 5-1, England qualified to go to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa! Joining (from first to qualify) Japan, Australia, South Korea, The Netherlands, North Korea, Brazil, Ghana, Spain, Paraguay, and of course, the hosts, South Africa.
Bilic opened the fun and games when he declared that England has lost some of its "Englishness." He later went on to say he meant it as a compliment, but lets face it, he likes to needle to opposition and try some mind games. Capello just responded by declaring that his job for the team talk had just been made easier.
The game itself opened with England marking the fact that there really is a gulf in class between these two nations. Even when you take into account the fact that Croatia did not have its talisman in Luka Modric.
Bursting into the box, Lennon got hauled down, and Lampard slotted home the resulting penalty within the first 7 minutes. Lennon was instrumental when he delivered the perfect cross in the 11th minute for Gerrard to smack the header home.
Vedran Runje in Croatias goal was by far their most importan player, keeping England at bay for the rest of the first half. England however, forced him into acrobatic display after acrobatic display in order to maintain the integrity of his goal.
On the hour mark, Glen Johnson managed to float in a fantastic cross to be met by Lampard to add his second, and 7 minutes later, Gerrard joined him on 2 goals by smashing home Rooneys cross.
The Brazilian-born Eduardo grabbed a goal back for Croatia with a close range effort with 18 minutes to go. But given Englands dominance in the game, calling it a consolation would be amazingly generous! I almost feel sorry for Eduardo. Poor guy got booed whenever he went even close to the ball! I know that UEFA has since recinded the 2 match ban for conning the ref with his dive. But lets face it, he did dive. Cheating B@%$@+d.
Rooney played a blinder of a game, reigning in his famous temper, and his industry was duly rewarded when he pounced on a wild slice from Croatias keeper to gleefully slot the ball home.
The whole squad played really well. Extra points to Heskey. He is not such a productive striker. However, he is enormously useful, and Capello likes playing him. And I can see why. He is a big strong player who is very unselfish. Brilliant at holding the ball, and creating opportunities for the players round him. Most of Englands other strikers are, unfortunately, titchy.
So, a huge difference between McClarens England, in the rain, getting thumped and dumped out of the qualification rounds for Euro 2008 by Croatia. A lot has to be handed to Capello for this turnaround. He took largely the same bunch of players and went from struggling and failing to qualifying, to making them into a much better, tougher unit, which blasted through qualifying witout losing a game.
It is great to see England now. Capello famously has not tried to be-friend the players like McClaren did. He called them by their first names, and was generally pally. Capello on the other hand insists on suits, punctuality, calls the players by their surnames (not their nicknames) and whilst he cares deeply about the players and will obviously fight for them in every arena, there is no sentimentality. He is not above dropping players the moment they dont match his exacting standards. A threat dangling over Beckham whilst he is on his American adventure.
The most famous example of Capello keeping a distance between himself and the team was after the game with Croatia. When Terry went over to give Capello a congratulatory hug. Now, most managers would accept that, but not Capello. He just stuck out his hand!
It must be said, however, that a group consisting of England, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Andorra, and the Ukraine, you would expect England to qualify. Or AT LEAST snag 2nd place. You would expect England to beat all of these teams, but I believe that is short-changing the opposition. Apart from Andorra, none of these nations are real pushovers. Croatia is still an excellent and difficult nation to play against. Belarus and the Ukraine both have several star players that grace top leagues throughout Europe. Kazakhstan is a fantastic team full of running.
None of these games, away from England was ever going to be easy. Look at Kazakhstan. I worked it out. Basically, it is over half way to Japan from England! Thats further than from Manchester to New York by plane! It would have been easy for England to get complacent. However, should they have done, most of the other nations would pounce and punish you for it. England had to play at 100% all the time.
Now. Do England stand a chance of winning the thing?
Yes. Of course we do.
But will we?
To that, I dont know. Capello has taken a bunch of excellent players (top of the world excellent, I am not so sure) and blended a team that is clearly greater than the sum of its parts. Same thing that Ferguson has done at United. And look at the success they have had!
England go to the tournament part of a group of nations who have a brilliant chance. Brazil and Spain have to be the best picks at the moment, but just after them, you have the likes of Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, possibly Paraguay, who all have a great chance of getting to the finals. I would put England in that group.
With a world cup, there is a large element of luck, too. It is all about 1 game at a time. After the group stage, 1 lucky bounce is all it takes to turn a game on its head. Under Capello we are beginning to look like a team that might just be able to create its own luck.
So, I look forward to the world cup with more hope and a genuine feeling of optimism that I have not had about an England team for a long time!
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