It was a long courtship between English football and Fabio Capello. They first winked at each other in 1999 when the FA scoured Europe for a new manager after Glenn Hoddle’s sacking.
Nine years later, the Italian finally embraced what he called “my dream job” and it seems unthinkable — particularly to his employers — that it should turn sour today in what, ominously for the superstitious Italian, is his thirteenth competitive match.
English football stares into an abyss but, having lavished more than £10 million in wages on one of the world’s leading managers, the FA has to believe that Capello can steer it back from the brink today of what, in terms of finance, credibility and morale, would be a disaster.
The leaders of the game must trust that Capello, a man thought to come with a guarantee of success (as far as that is possible in football management outside of José Mourinho), will put the players in the right places against Slovenia and tap into their fragile psyche.
As he sat next to Steven Gerrard in a soulless room at the Nelson Mandela Stadium last night, Capello turned and pointed to his captain. “I have good players,” he said, cuffing Gerrard twice on the arm as if trying to bludgeon the praise, the belief into his player’s mind.
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To gee up his squad is all he can do now and a slight change of strategy, with Jermain Defoe apparently getting the nod yesterday that he will start rather than two hours before kick-off, can be taken as a sop to dressing-room unease. Whether the players sink or swim is now entirely down to them, according to their manager.
Established beyond doubt during these recent, turbulent days is that Capello thinks he has been very good value for his £13,000-a-day job. Hired as an alchemist to turn the “Golden Generation” into winners, he believes he has done the job as successfully as possible in rebuilding a shattered team and guiding them through qualifying.
As far as Capello is concerned, that campaign proved his worth. If the players have regressed at the World Cup finals, overcome with stage fright, he has repeatedly stated that it is down to their mental weaknesses.
“Everything is perfect in training,” he keeps saying. If it was not for his record, it might sound dangerously like passing the buck.
History is on his side. He is the serial winner who has claimed trophies everywhere he has been; they are the players flirting dangerously, once again, with the adage that England are rarely as good as they think they are.
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No wonder FA officials react to dressing-room agitation about Capello’s stern regime with a rolling of the eyes; what more can we do, they say, than give the players a leader of the Italian’s stature?
It is a reasonable stance, but it does not mean there have not been mistakes or that Capello can wash his hands of responsibility. It is his team selection today, just as it was his late, wavering choice of Robert Green against the United States, that could be pivotal.
And it is his selection. Players, media and pundits have called for a five-man midfield but word is of Defoe alongside Wayne Rooney and James Milner, not Joe Cole, on the right.
Of course Capello’s fate, and that of the team he manages, should be resolved on his terms — but going against the tide of public opinion piles the stakes that bit higher.
Still, one suspects Capello will not lose too much sleep. “My reputation is not important,” he said.
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If he has made mistakes, he thinks them unworthy of divulging.
The FA is hoping to be able to back its man, whatever the outcome today. Having rushed to tighten up Capello’s contract shortly before the tournament, the idea of having to open talks over a payoff would fill it with embarrassment.
It is not as though it has groomed a successor. Stuart Pearce is Capello’s assistant on the training ground but even that may be a promotion too far. Roy Hodgson? His record hardly puts him in Capello’s class.
Blood-letting in the dugout or the dressing room is not what a dysfunctional FA needs, having shed a chairman and chief executive this year.
England arrived with their oldest World Cup squad because the younger players were not good enough. Skilful reinforcements may be on the way but, given that England’s best junior team are the under-17s, not for some time.
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England hopes that there is more to come from these celebrated players and that Capello can coax it out of them today.
It is worth recalling how Brian Barwick, the former FA chief executive, welcomed the new manager to England. “We knew the next appointment had to be somebody of world-class status, a man with a strong personality, vast experience, a coach used to handling big players, big matches and big in-match situations; a man who is tactically astute, adaptable, of proven pedigree, mature and who can handle a big job with the pressures that go with it,” Barwick said. “A winner with a capital ‘W’. That was the template, this is the man.”
That checklist should also have contained a few weaknesses and we have seen some exposed in recent weeks — if any job can reveal them, it is this one.
Capello is only human but he is also the best and most expensive coach the FA could find. Today it prays that all its money buys more time.
What England must do to qualify for next phase
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• England will progress to the round of 16 with victory over Slovenia in Port Elizabeth this afternoon.
• Defeat will eliminate them from the tournament.
• A draw would prove enough only if the other fixture in group C, the United States versus Algeria, was also drawn but with those sides each scoring at least three goals fewer than England.
• If the US and Algeria were to score two goals fewer (eg, draw 0-0 while England draw 2-2), then England and the US would finish level and draw lots to determine who progress.
• Players who receive a second yellow card of the tournament in their team’s final group match will be suspended for the round of 16.
• However, players booked once in the group phase will have that card discounted for the purpose of suspension, so will start the knockout phase with a clean slate.
• Steven Gerrard and James Milner are the only England players at risk of a second yellow card today.
- Words by Bill Edgar
Fixtures:
Today: Slovenia v England; United States v Algeria.
Results: England 1 United States 1; Algeria 0 Slovenia 1; Slovenia 2 United States 2; England 0 Algeria 0.