Fabio Capello: Getting it Right for His Undeserved Second Chance

England played its first Euro 2012 qualifier this weekend. They easily handled Bulgaria and won 4-0. While it was a good victory for England, I feel like it was an undeserved second chance for their coach, Fabio Capello. England went with a different lineup from what they used two months ago in the World Cup. Here are the starting 11 from their first game at the World Cup:

Robert Green (G)
John Terry (D)
Ledley King (D)
Ashley Cole (D)
Glen Johnson (D)
Steven Gerrard (M)
Frank Lampard (M)
James Milner (M)
Aaron Lennon (M)
Wayne Rooney (F)
Emile Heskey (F)

And here are the starting 11 from the qualifier on Saturday:

Joe Hart (G)
Phil Jagielka (D)
Ashley Cole (D)
Michael Dawson (D)
Glen Johnson (D)
Steven Gerrard (M)
Gareth Barry (M)
James Milner (M)
Theo Walcott (M)
Jermain Defoe (F)
Wayne Rooney (F)

There are quite a few changes. Granted, there were many changes even during the World Cup. England had an all around poor showing at the World Cup and few players were solid throughout the tournament, so changes were necessary. Jermain Defoe didn't get the starting nod at the beginning of the tournament, but he was starting by the end of the tournament. Why he didn't start in the first place was puzzling considering he had such an amazing season prior to the World Cup. Tottenham qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever and that was largely due to Defoe. He was their offense last season. I guess no one could have foreseen that Wayne Rooney would be completely absent during the World Cup and Capello probably expected more scoring from Rooney, but still, you have to start Defoe after how great he had played. Defoe started yesterday's game and finished with a hatrick. He's a scoring machine. This isn't a new revelation either.

Not starting Defoe was bad, but the failure to play Joe Hart was a catastrophe, especially since goalkeeping woes plagued England throughout the Cup. Joe Hart has been simply amazing this season. Granted, there have only been three league games, but he has risen to the occasion in each of the games. His debut game for Man City against Tottenham was one of the greatest goalkeeping performances I have ever seen. He was bombarded with shots and came up big each and every time. Even yesterday in the game against Bulgaria he had a couple of huge saves. He completely changes the England squad. The players have confidence in their goalie and don’t consider themselves as much of a liability defensively and it changes the entire mentality and course of the game.

But here’s why I think that this is somewhat of an undeserved chance for Capello: yesterday's game wasn't 4 years after the World Cup where some players have changed and others have developed and different players are available. The World Cup was two months ago. So any player or any combination of players that are being used now were available two months ago. But Capello didn’t find or use that combination even though it was at his disposal, which is somewhat inexcusable considering it’s the World Cup. He used the World Cup as his experimental stage or try outs and now seems to have figured things out…in time for the Euro 2012 qualifiers? It like a band getting the chance to open for U2 and playing their B-sides and then busting out all their great stuff a few weeks later when they are playing at local clubs and dive bars. Seems a little backwards.

And it may be a little harsh to hold Capello to such a high standard and scrutiny, but he's getting paid millions and the World Cup only happens once every four years. If he could try again in six months and he wasn't getting so much money I would give him a pass. But for what they are paying him (more than any other national team coach in the world), the expectations are higher and the room for error is smaller, especially since he is proving that his errors could have been corrected since he has apparently corrected those errors only two months after the tournament.

I actually like Capello. He had a great run at Real Madrid and improbably controlled all the egos and led them to a league title. I think he is a good coach and I thought he should have been given more time with Madrid and not run out of town for the next big coach. He must have kept that second chance token he should have received from Madrid and he’s now cashing it in with England. He was gracefully given another chance and seems to be finally getting it right, just in time for the local club and dive bar tour.

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Mexico and England: Controversial, Yet Deserved Losses

Two games on Sunday and two more controversial calls from poor officiating. I don't know the current progress of the replay debate. I know the FIFA president seems pretty adamant at the moment that they won't do replay. Personally, I think they will have it in 2014. There have been too many blown calls. I think it's only a matter of time until the individual European leagues start to use replay or the ball chips that indicate when the ball has crossed the line, and that FIFA will eventually follow suit for the World Cup.

Regardless, no point in discussing that now since it's not going to change during this Cup. Nevertheless, two teams were on the raw end of the no replay stick on Sunday. But I don't think the missed calls actually changed the outcome of the game. Even if the refs had gotten the calls right, I think Germany and Argentina would still be moving on.

In the Argentina v. Mexico game, the missed call was so poor. Any ref, even the one on the other side of the field could have seen how far offside Tevez was. It wasn't even close. Just poor, poor officiating. But the goal only put Mexico down 1-0. Granted, its tough mentally to be down by a goal, especially one that shouldn't have been allowed, but one goal is not insurmountable. But it clearly was for Mexico because Argentina was just flat out better. Mexico never really threatened and Argentina put in two more goals before Mexico scored their only goal. Some may argue that the one goal messed them up for the entire game, but it shouldn't have. If you are the better team, you can and will come back and win. If the roles were reversed and Mexico got an undeserved first goal, Argentina would have come back and won the game. I think most people that watched the game today would agree.

The situation is a little different with Germany and England. Mainly because England was down 2-1 and the missed goal would have tied the game. Not only that, it would have come only a minute after the first goal. A huge confidence booster and swing in momentum. England really would have had a different mentality coming in from the second half. There could have been a different outcome.

However, I don't think anyone outside of England is actually convinced that the outcome would have been different. Maybe that second goal would have inspired them to play better and they would have pulled out the victory. But after watching the rest of the game, I don't think that England would have won even if they had tied the game. Germany exposed the deeper issues plaguing England: no defense, weak goalie, and not much going on at striker. England was pretty poor from the outset of the Cup. Elevated expectations that didn't match the quality of the product on the field. They were definitely shafted in this game and they should have deserved the goal, but they really weren't a better team than Germany on Sunday.



But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the outcome would have been different if the refs got the calls right. What do you think?

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US v. England Recap - Lego Style

In case you missed the US v. England game on Saturday, here's a pretty awesome, and accurate, recap of the highlights:

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World Cup Draw Reveals Some Interesting Matchups

The draw for the group stages of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was completed this morning, giving us some fascinating matchups to look forward to. Remember that after the round robin group stage (one game each with the other group members) the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout round.

Here are the group draws:

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France.
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece.
Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia.
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana.
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon.
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia.
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal.
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile.

My initial reaction is that, despite what other commentators may say, there isn't really a "group of death" in this draw, by which I mean that there's no group containing three teams that clearly would be knockout rounders if they didn't have to play each other. Some are calling group G the toughest, based on FIFA rankings (Brazil, Portugal, and Ivory Coast are all in the top 16), but Portugal's form of late hasn't been what it once was, and Brazil should be able to defeat both opponents relatively easily. Group E could be just as close (where Netherlands should make it through, but Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon will likely have to slug it out). Group A is also interesting, as on paper France and Mexico should go through, but Uruguay can be a tough opponent and it's hard to count the hosts out in any Cup. Group D could also be tough, although Germany should win the group, as the contest between Ghana, Serbia, and Australia for second place will be fun to watch.

It looks like Spain and Italy lucked out with the two easiest groups in the Cup. I still believe that Italy's 2006 Cup victory was just as much the result of an easy knockout round draw as it was the result of good play. This time, assuming they win the group, they'll likely face one of the tougher initial knockout round games, as anyone coming out of Group E can make a game of it against them. Spain could also have their hands full with whomever comes out of Group G in second place.

My last observation is that this is a great draw for the USMNT to make the knockout round. England will be tough, but the U.S. should be able to beat Algeria and Slovenia to make it through (where they would likely face a tough opponent in Germany if we don't win the group). The England-U.S. tie could be one of the most interesting matchups of the group stage--a rematch of the 1950 upset victory by the Americans (highlights commentary in German, sorry!) the only other time the two teams have met in the World Cup.

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