Capello: After 1,270 days, 36 matches, 58 players, 24 wins, six defeats, £21.75m in wages and one World Cup disaster I've finally cracked it!
Published 00:10 04/06/11 By Martin Lipton
It's taken a long time - far too long - but the Fabio Capello who will send his England team out against Switzerland at Wembley appears to have learned.
Learned that English players end every season with their bodies running on empty, bodies that need rejuvenation, not flogging into the grave.
Learned that 4-4-2 is not the only way, that a modern, mature team needs a modern, mature shape.
Realised that winning comes when a team is fit, when players are handed the responsibility to step up and fill the breach when the big names are missing.
And above all, finally, cottoned on to the reality that nothing that has happened since the World Cup, or will happen between now and next summer, will count for a hill of beans if we slink back from Poland and Ukraine with our tails between our legs.
It is still the case that Capello's command of English is far from compelling.
Indeed, at times, his desperate grasping for the right word resembles a drowning man clutching for a floating log to hold.
For all Capello's claim to have a "perfect" relationship with Rio Ferdinand after the frankly embarrassing captaincy imbroglio that showed the difference between a man-manager and a manager of men, the truth is that the peace pact is fragile at best.
But where it matters, on the pitch, Capello has begun to deliver on the promises he made in Rustenburg a year ago.
New players - Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Joe Hart, Darren Bent and Ashley Young are all likely to start against the Swiss. Four of them did not make the World Cup and the other was only a third-choice bench-dweller. Adam Johnson, Andy Carroll, Kieran Gibbs, Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson are all knocking on the door, too.
New tactics - at last, a mirroring of the shape that Germany utilised to run rings round us in Bloemfontein and, belatedly, a greater understanding of the stresses and strains caused by the sheer relentlessness of an English campaign.
Even without Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard, there is an expectation of another win to take command of Group G and Capello, unquestionably, believes things are on the right track.
"A lot of young players are in the squad now, and they have improved a lot," said the Italian.
"I'm happy with the performance of the team. If you look at Wilshere, Ashley Young, at the players who have played more difficult games at the top of the table, playing to win every game to get to the Champions League. That is important.
"Also, I think, the performances that we put in against Switzerland, Denmark and Wales, away, were really good.
"The team is different now. Something has changed and we've got probably more imagination, while they are now playing with more confidence, not with fear.
"Before they didn't play at the same level. Now they play, with the national team, the same style and level that I can see with their club sides."
Among those is Bent, left out of the World Cup after a nightmare in the pre-tournament friendly against Japan but now the in-form striker
"He is a goalscorer," said the manager. "In every moment he is in a good position in front of the goal. Sometimes players are not good when they were 21 or 22 but improve, like Bent."
Capello himself has improved.
A year ago today, in their first training session at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus, Rio Ferdinand's knee injury cast a cloud of doubt that the players, already shattered mentally and physically, never shrugged aside.
The Italian has loosened the iron disciplinary grip that seemed to paralyse his squad in the High Veldt, no longer consigning them to their rooms for long periods and also recognising his errors.
"I was sure the team would play better than we saw during the World Cup," he admitted. "It surprised me what happened - the physical situation that we had at the World Cup. They were really, really tired.
"If we qualify for the Euros, I want the players to go on holiday for a minimum of 10 days before rejoining the squad. I think they spend a lot of mental energy, not only physical energy, during the season.
"They had a week off, apart from Rio, and they have started to train like they were children - wanting to play. They were really happy. This is really, really important, them being so happy.
"I learned a lot from the World Cup, what happened and what I will do in the future."
Of course the bottom line is simple - result. And not just today.
Capello said: "This is Switzerland's last chance. They need to win so it will be a tough game.
"I hope, in front of 90,000 fans, we play a good game, win and qualify. We did really well in World Cup qualification, but we didn't play well in South Africa. The most important thing is to win trophies."
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ENGLAND v SWITZERLAND: PROBABLE TEAMS
England (4-3-3): Hart; Johnson, Ferdinand, terry, Cole; Wilshere, Lampard, Parker; Milner, Bent, Young.
Switzerland (4-5-1): Wolfi; Lichtsteiner, Von Bergen, Senderos, Ziegler; Barnetta, Behrami, Inler, Fernandes, Shaqiri; Derdiyok.
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
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ENGLAND v SWITZERLAND: HOW GROUP G STANDS
P W D L F A Pts
England 4 3 1 0 9 1 10
Montenegro 4 3 1 0 3 0 10
Switzerland 4 1 1 2 5 5 4
Bulgaria 4 1 1 2 1 5 4
Wales 4 0 0 4 1 8 0
England's fixtures - Today: Switzerland (h); September 2: Bulgaria (a); September 6: Wales (h); October 7: Montenegro (a).
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ENGLAND v SWITZERLAND: THREE TO WATCH
XHERDAN SHAQIRI: Highly-rated 19-year-old midfielder who scored a spectacular consolation goal when England won 3-1 in Basel last September.
VALON BEHRAMI: Right-back. Was a bit-part player at West Ham under Avram Grant before leaving in January for Fiorentina, where he has done much better.
GELSON FERNANDES: Failed to make it at Manchester City but scorer of Switzerland's greatest goal in the past year - a counter-attacking effort that beat eventual champions Spain in the opening group game at last year's World Cup.
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ENGLAND v SWITZERLAND: RECENT MEETINGS
May 30 1981, Basel: Switzerland 2 England 1 - Ron Greenwood’s World Cup qualification hopes were on the rocks after two goals in two minutes from Alfred Schiewilder and Claudio Sulser, who is now head of FIFA's ethics committee. Substitute Terry McDermott pulled one back but England slipped to their only Swiss defeat since 1947.
June 8 1996, Wembley: England 1 Switzerland 1 - A false start to Euro 96 despite an early goal from Alan Shearer, his first for his country in nearly two years. Stuart Pearce handled in the box eight minutes from time and Kubilay Turkyilmaz stepped up to convert and earn the Swiss a deserved point.
June 17 2004, Coimbra, Portugal: England 3 Switzerland 0 - Sven Goran Eriksson’s midfielders rebelled to demand a return to a flat quartet from the diamond - to the consternation of Paul Scholes - before Wayne Rooney briefly became the youngest scorer in European Championship history. Rooney added a second before Steven Gerrard completed an easy win.
February 6 2008, Wembley: England 2 Switzerland 1 - Fabio Capello’s first game saw surprise choice Jermaine Jenas put England in front with what to date is his only international goal. A thunderbolt from Eren Derdiyok levelled before Shaun Wright-Phillips nudged in the winner. Capello accepted there was a long way to go.
September 7 2010, Basel: Switzerland 1 England 3 - Rooney’s dalliance with a prostitute threatened to overshadow proceedings, but his calm early goal changed everything. Adam Johnson doubled the lead and though substitute Xherdan Shaquiri smashed one home, Darren Bent quelled any nerves with an assured first England strike.
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