Plucky England, fighting back from two down only to be thwarted by a deflected last-minute winner. A brave effort from Psycho's young lions. Pleasing fluency at times. The start of a bold new era for English football. ... As a response to a single game played with a youthful side under a caretaker manager, such commentary made a certain sense. But the crucial thing to remember after England's 3-2 defeat to Holland last Wednesday was context.
LONDON -- Another fine mess for the national team. "CAPELLO QUITS OVER RACE ROW AS JURY CLEARS REDKNAPP." The Daily Mail's headline on Thursday ran to nine words but they were enough to contain almost every drop of slop. England's captain demoted by the Football Association until a charge of racially aggravated public disorder -- which John Terry has always denied -- has been heard in July; England's manager resigning after publicly disagreeing with the FA's decision; the favorite to succeed Fabio Capello, the Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp, being found innocent of tax evasion a few hours earlier.
CNN's Pedro Pinto talks to Manchester United and Chelsea managers about Fabio Capello and the FA's reaction to John Terry.
The English Football Association has confirmed that England national manager Fabio Capello has resigned from his post with immediate effect.
1. Germany could be the new Spain. The average age of the Germany team that started in a 3-0 win over Holland last month, playing a fast-paced and flexible style more reminiscent of the Dutch team of the 1970s, was 24.5. By the time the game ended, it was down to 23.4. Forward Miroslav Klose is the only player over 30 in the squad and there is young talent waiting in the wings wherever you look. Two from Mesut Ozil (23), Toni Kroos (21), and Mario Goetze (19) make up the creative fulcrum that supplies a three-pronged attack with Lukas Podolski (26) and Thomas Muller (22) either side of Mario Gomez (26), whose 22 goals in 22 games this season (at time of writing) puts him in the company of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robin van Persie.
Fabio Capello's record as a club manager is superb. The England national team, for around four decades, has seemed unmanageable. The derision with which Capello has been treated feels absurd; if there is a problem in the relationship, past record suggests it almost certainly lies on the side of England rather than Capello. And yet, as embarrassing and puerile as much of the criticism he has received has been, for all that he is -- like every manager before him -- being treated as a scapegoat for the squad's problems, it is becoming increasingly difficult not to raise doubts.
After England's dismal showing in the World Cup, there were the usual calls for blood. Fabio Capello clearly wasn't going to go, so after lamenting the Football Association's curious decision to remove the release clause from the coach's contract shortly before the tournament, the media focused on which players could usefully be sacrificed. It was a stance in part rooted in embarrassment at the widespread acceptance of the myth of the "Golden Generation," and in part just because the rules of the tabloid game insist somebody must be blamed.
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa -- Monday afternoon, the inquest into England's worst defeat in World Cup history will begin in earnest.
England manager Fabio Capello tells CNN's Pedro Pinto about the World Cup teams he fears the most.
English national team manager Fabio Capello tells CNN's Pedro Pinto that he demands respect from his players.
On paper, a 3-1 victory against the African Cup of Nations winners, Egypt, a team sitting 17th in the FIFA world rankings, looks like a good result for England. The reality was an unconvincing performance that emphasized England's lack of depth and highlighted the absence of key individuals through injury and the poor form of some players.
Team Limey was basking in an unfamiliar relaxed state leading up to this week's final round of World Cup qualifiers, as its beloved England team safely qualified at the beginning of September with two games to spare.
Jump on the England bandwagon too soon -- as often happens -- and you're bound to be disappointed. But the numbers are hard to argue with: eight games in World Cup qualifying, eight wins; 31 goals scored, five conceded.
That the new castle to which the city owes its name is now 929 years old is not Newcastle's only temporal oddity. Dominating the skyline above the medieval keep is St. James' Park -- home of Newcastle United -- a rare place where time's normally linear passage takes peculiar cyclical paths.
Sir Bobby Charlton, the enduring hero of World Cup glory in 1966, told me recently that he long ago despaired of England ever again winning sport's greatest prize. He was certain exactly where the blame lay, too: at the hands of a succession of mediocre managers.
Beckham-mania is about to strike in Italy. By the end of the year, the world's most hyped footballer will have teamed up with AC Milan on a three-month loan from his MLS club, the Los Angeles Galaxy.
If you are not careful when discussing England's crushing failure to qualify for Euro 2008, and the subsequent appointment of Fabio Capello as the national-team manager, you can appear to morph from cosmopolitan man of the world to foaming xenophobe. To demonstrate that you have nothing against foreign players or managers, it has to be picked through, step by step.
Welcome to the Fabio Capello era. England's players got their first taste of the new headmaster's regime leading up to Wednesday's friendly with Switzerland in a situation reminiscent of the opening half of Full Metal Jacket.
Earlier this month, many Englishmen believe a savior arrived. And the savior was shepherded into a $1.5 billion stadium in the land of Wembley by three kingmakers from the Football Association. And later the kingmakers announced that a star had come to us from the south and swaddled only in his trademark multi-colored ZeroRH+ glasses and an expensive designer suit. Then we were told that Fabio Capello would be the next England manager.
Fabio Capello is out to prove that the post of England national-team manager is not the impossible job so many people claim it to be.
England formally introduced Fabio Capello as new head coach. CNN's Pedro Pinto reports.
World Soccer Magazine's Keir Radnedge discusses the impending appointment of Fabio Capello as England's new manager.
"The proof our technical team was right in not considering his continuity has been ratified as nobody wanted him." -- Real Madrid president Ram�n Calder�n, January 2007
SI.com: Gaga for Goldenballsupdated: Fri Jan 26 2007 11:03:00
It's been two weeks, and David Beckham's move to a Galaxy far, far away is still the talk of the town in England. But which town?
SI.com: A Real messupdated: Thu Jan 18 2007 10:51:00
When Real Madrid hired Fabio Capello last summer, it was looking for a "sure thing" -- a big-name coach who would cut through the B.S., tame the Galácticos (or what was left of them) and deliver some kind of silverware. Any kind.
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