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Life After World Cup

So in an attempt to make three lions fans look at the positives and possibly in a last ditch effort to keep his job, Fabio Capello has promised that in the next two years, while England prepare for Euro 2012, several young players will break through.

While many fans will see the separation of the so called ‘Golden Generation’ as a positive step I still think the likes of Gerrard, Lampard and Terry have something to offer the national team. I believe it is not a case of players not caring but more individuals terrified when they pull on the white shirt due to the pressure it brings. Obviously if England were suddenly filled with less experienced/ famous names that would lower the expectation levels.

                I believe however this is slight desperation from the Italian. Not just desperation but actually unfair. For example, do the likes of Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere need the added pressure of being touted as future England stars when they haven’t yet established themselves into the Arsenal first team.  Is it appropriate that Capello is now telling a country we should rely on the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor, Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson  when he deemed them not good enough for South Africa.

                Here we will look at the players Capello has promised a more active role in his squad selections.It should be noted that the Italian as gone back on his promises before, only  playing in form players and those who were fit.

Jack Wilshere

Arsenal youngest ever player to appear in the Premiership.  Impressed in Carling Cup and Emiraites’ Cup outings before being loaned out for experience to Bolton. Owen Coyle admires him so much he wants to take him on for a second season.

Many agree with Arsene Wenger’s and Capello’s belief that Wilshere has a future at the very highest level of the game (perhaps a replacement for Cesc  Fabregas) but it is unfair for an 18 year old, yet to start in the League for Arsenal, to be spoken as England’s next break out star. We know what has happened to another Arsenal player in a similar situation called Theo Wallcott.

 

Kieran Gibbs

Capello was having a look at Gibbs before he broke a bone in his foot in November. Arsenal like their left backs in a certain way and Gibbs has been taught to play in a style similar to Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy.   If Arsene Wenger got a big money offer for Clichy he would feel he has a ready made replacement.

With Ashley Cole seemingly doing his best to burn all bridges with England fans (Cole claims to dislike them) Gibbs should earn his first cap in the next couple of years.

   

Michael Dawson

It’s not hard to work out after the World Cup that Dawson was viewed by Capello as 6^th choice centre back. However Carrager will now seemingly disappear again until the next tournament when he will again come out of retirement, King may not get another chance to prove his fitness after his dodgy knee lasted 45 minutes in Africa and Upson may forever be scared by his performance against Germany.

                 Dawson arguably played as well as any English centre back last year and it was always seen that Capello would wait into the Euro qualifiers to have more of a look at Dawson, now that’s guaranteed to happen.

Owen Hargreaves

With out any question if Hargreaves was fit he would have gone to South Africa and would have made a difference. His availability would of not meant such an over reliance on Gareth Barry. If he can rediscover his best form then he will challenge for Barry’s place or Capello may even use both meaning a change in formation.

Gabriel Agbonlahor

After a World Cup where England managed just two goals every striker who just missed out must fancy their chances of breaking through. Agbonlahor is one of them. He scored 16 times last season for Aston Villa and would of given the side much needed pace. If he can prove his consistency with another solid season at Villa Park then he deserves a chance as much as any one.

Adam Johnson

Capello has always liked the look of Johnson and for a long time it seemed that the Manchester City winger would be taken to Africa as England’s wildcard, someone to bring on in the last 10 minutes. Would have featured more after the World Cup no matter what England had achieved.

Theo Walcott

Ironically the man whose confidence has taken such a battering from Capello is the man the Italian is now talking up to try and save his job. If Fabio does leave then it is Walcott who provided him with the best moment of his international managerial career with his hat trick in Croatia.

                No one did anything in South Africa to prove that Capello was right not to take the Arsenal winger. Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright Phillips both failed to impress.

Walcott is a confidence player and allot will depend on him having a good start to the season with Arsenal.

 

Bobby Zamora

Zamora’s form was such a surprise last season that it is mainly believed that if the Fulham man had not needed surgery in the summer he would have been the unexpected name on the flight to Africa.

The test for Zamora is to avoid second season syndrome. After 21 goals last year the spotlight is now on him to do it again with other clubs prepared to pay serious money for his services. There is no guarantee that Zamora can repeat his heroics from last year.

Capello To Tell Players First About World Cup Squad

Fabio Capello will tell his England stars their World Cup fate in a group meeting to unveil his 23-man squad for the finals in South Africa.

England coach Capello will take a preliminary group of 30 players for a week of training in Austria leading up to a friendly against Japan on May 30 and the Italian will then gather his players to let them know if they have earned a place in the final squad.

The England squads for the last two World Cups were announced publicly by Sven-Goran Eriksson, with the players finding out whether or not they were included through the media.

But Capello is keen to let his players know their fate himself and he told The Mail On Sunday: “The last week we are training in Austria. Before the last game we play with Japan we have to decide.

“There will be a meeting with all the players. I will speak with them together and say, ‘Thank you very much but I have to choose’.

“It’s not the best moment for me. I would like all the players to be with me. They are very good players.

“I hope to take 30 players to Austria but these are difficult moments, with the FA Cup final and the Champions League final at the same time.

“At the moment I have 30 players in my mind, the last one was the centre-back Ryan Shawcross, as you know. These are the players from which I will choose the 23.

“It will be during one meeting and after that we will speak to the media. I think it will be important for all the players to know my decision at once.”

Blatter Not Ruling Out Using Technology in The Future

World football chief Sepp Blatter said in a newspaper interview on Sunday that he might consider video assistance for referees in the future.

The president of world football’s governing body FIFA has staunchly opposed the use of video replays as a refereeing aid because they would interrupt the flow of the game.

But he told the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick that he might consider them after other technology has been approved.

“I’m not completely against it. But only when goal line technology is ready to be introduced, only then,” he said.

The guardian of football’s rules, the International Football Association Board, is due to discuss electronic goal line technology, including computer chips in balls and goalmouth cameras, at its meeting in March.

Blatter again ruled out the introduction of such aids in South Africa this summer.

“We won’t carry out any experiments there, not even with two extra referees,” he added.

Two additional assistant referees are being lined up in Europa League matches this season in a trial aimed at improving surveillance of incidents in penalty box.

In December, FIFA’s executive committee also ruled out the introduction of video technology to assist referees similar to the system used in rugby, cricket and tennis.

Pressure for refereeing aids surged again with the furore that followed Thierry Henry’s blatant handball in a World Cup playoff against Ireland in November that saw France qualify for the finals.

US agree El Salvador friendly

The United States have added to their pre-World Cup friendly schedule, announcing a match with regional rival El Salvador on Thursday.

The Americans, already slated for games against Honduras and the Netherlands, will play the Salvadorans in Tampa, Florida, on 24 February. The match will be a chance for Tampa to show its worth as one of the venue finalists in the Americans’ World Cup bids.

USA manager Bob Bradley feels that El Salvador gave his side fits in qualifying for the World Cup, and he also feels the match is an adequate preparation for his team.

“This game will be an important part of our preparations, providing us with one of the last opportunities to evaluate the players being considered for the World Cup roster,” Bradley said to the media on Thursday.

The USA plays Honduras on 23 January in Los Angeles, and the Netherlands on 3 March in Amsterdam. Their first World Cup match is against England on 12 June in Rustenburg.

World Cup Qualifying Complete

Just over two years ago the draw for the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup was conducted. Now it has come to an end and all 32 teams that will compete in South Africa are finalised.

The draw for the tournament proper will be done in two weeks and everyone is waiting to see what that will result in. Regardless of it, Spain and Brazil are going to be the favourites. The two are the best two teams in the world and it will be fascinating to see how far apart the draw keeps them.

Off the bat you can tell that South Africa’s group will be the weakest of the four. As the host, they are seeded and placed in Pot A along with the likes of Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, England and the aforementioned Spain and Brazil. There is clearly a gulf in standard with South Africa and the other seven sides. Soccer betting is going to be monitoring this closely.

Pot B contains the other eight European sides. Netherlands are here and should be in Pot A. So wherever Netherlands or for that matter Portugal end up will result in the much-loved Group of Death.  Then again it will be evened out if they end up in South Africa’s group.

Pot C consists of the other four African and the other three South American teams. None of these teams will be a pushover and the most difficult would be Ghana or Ivory Coast.

In Pot D are the four Asian sides, the three CONCACAF teams and New Zealand from Oceania. The best case scenario for one of the top teams wanting to progess is either North Korea or New Zealand.

Having a look at who won’t be there and it’s a sorry tale. The fairytale run of Guus Hiddink is finally over after he couldn’t get Russia to the World Cup. They needed luck to get them to Euro 2008 and they did very well there so this one will really sting. They haven’t made it through to the knock-out round of the World Cup since 1986. It remains to be seen if Hiddink will hang around. No doubt he will have countless chequebooks from both clubs and countries put in front of him.

The Czech Republic will be trying to work out what went wrong with their lacklustre qualifying campaign. All four playoff losers will be licking their wounds and Ireland will be gutted to have gone out in such a controversial fashion. Egypt will be looking for revenge and Costa Rica will be ruing that last minute goal against the USA which put them into a playoff against Uruguay that they would lose.

David Wiseman writes for this blog. He also writes about harness betting.

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