England's dismal, but inevitable, failure

Of course, we have all been here so many times before that it should not be a shock or a surprise. The England team enter a major football tournament with hopes of reaching the latter stages and we even dare to think that it could be 1966 again but deep down we know that is unrealistic and we will settle for a heroic failure in the Quarter-Finals.

But 2010 episode of this long-running saga was a horror show. England left at the last sixteen stage after one of the limpest concessions ever see. Forget Lampard's "phantom" goal, which could well have swung the balance in England's favour for a while but can you really imagine this team managing to seize control of a game, especially against a German side who showed how togetherness and skill can be natural bedfellows, whereas England seem to think that these two attributes are mutually exclusive. Mind you, one in isolation would have been good. Capello's team in South Africa were disjointed, untogether (there are a variety of stories circulating about friction in the camp but regardless of true cause, they never showed any unity or sense of purpose) and prone to costly mistakes.

The little Englanders will point to the foreign coach and nod sagely that this will never work until we get an Englishman, preferably with St. George tattooed on his chest, back at the helm. It has to be admitted that Capello made some errors, (he was in good company) but the root of our problems lie far deeper than the nationality of the coach. The coaching system in this country is a shambles - there are plenty of people going through various FA Coaching levels but they are being taught the same old system by the same old coaches. Having been through Level 1 and known a few who have progressed further it is abundantly clear that the English coaching system is flawed as it is one dimensional, unimaginative and ultimately not likely to produce good enough coaches at the top.

We need to take a root and branch approach to the whole area of coaching. Be brave, be bold. Rip it up and start again. But this will not happen as there are too many vested interests involved. The FA has never been a forward-looking organisation and one cannot imagine they are going to start now. To rid ourselves of all the conservative traditions and staid people who are holding English football back, will require a strong person who has the requisite vision and tenacity. A figure such as Henry V or Churchill. At least they were English.

Beckham makes his mark as Crouch notches double

Peter Crouch has an impressive scoring record, having scored 18 goals in the 35 games. Over 50% is an impressive strike rate in international football and very few England players could equal that. But then you look at the quality of the opposition and you have to wonder.

The collective might of Andorra, Belarus, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago implies he is a bit of a flat track bully. Of course some would argue you can only beat what is put in front of you but Capello is too astute a manager to believe that Crouch can really cut the mustard at the top end.

Tonight against Belarus, in what amounted to a glorified friendly, Crouch gave England a good start by scoring inside 3 minutes but then they struggled to impose themselves on a neat but hardly threatening team.

Disjointed and disappointing, there was very little to commend the first half performance. One hoped that Capello would manage to demand and inspire a better performance form his charges in the second half. However, the second half was in danger of petering out until David Beckham arrived.

The crowd were suddenly enlivened and lo and behold Beckham set up Wright-Phillips for the second goal within seconds of his arrival. But as with Crouch one can hardly envisage the great bearded one making much of an impact against the top sides.

When Crouch scored again it seemed almost an irrelevance. Everything was a sideshow to the Beckham renaissance, he even picked up the man of the match award. Maybe Beckham will have one last hurrah in South Africa and it is more likely that he does so this summer than Crouch who will be a bit player at best.

World Cup Dreams - Part 1

Fabio Capello has delivered. World Cup Qualification has been achieved with not a point dropped and two games to spare. England are the highest scorers in all European Qualifying Groups and they have clinically dispatched Croatia, their previous nemesis, with a steely ruthlessness that bodes well for the bigger tests ahead.

In just over a year, since he took over the role from the beleagured, belittled McClaren, Capello has instilled discipline and a positive, confident attitude that smacks of professionalism. What a contrast to the inept shambles of a team that he inherited which reeked of fear and was undermined by a shoddy amateurism.

The Italian could have hardly done any more in the relatively short time he has been in charge but he is extremely demanding. As a perfectionist, it galls him when his team allow their standards to drop. So even when England conceded Eduardo’s irrelevant consolation goal at Wembley he was genuinely angry, displaying his displeasure and frustration on the touchline at this lapse.

So far so good but Capello is not one to get carried away by this and it was significant to see how he reacted to the successful demolition of the nearest rivals. As soon as the game was finished he strode purposefully on to the pitch and shook hands with all the players in a business like fashion. Each player was acknowledged but there was no sense of triumphalism about it and the players were respectful. It was reminiscent of the sort of deference pupils show a schoolteacher. There is no doubt who is in control at all times.

As soon as the Croatia match has been properly digested and analysed, then the planning for South Africa will start in earnest. Capello knows there is still much to do as the evidence of the friendly games against France and especially Spain showed. England have showed that they have not shaken off some of the bad habits of the inglorious past and can still be made to look ponderous and incapable of holding the ball under pressure.

There are encouraging signs of shape and structure in the team and less reliance on individuals. Rooney, for example was not at his imperious best against the Croats, apart from a few subtle touches, but the team still looked good. England can truly be a team that plays with thought and balance, as was also witnessed in the friendly win away to Germany last year where we saw a second string side give an assured performance.

But as with all things England it is best to not get too carried away with the euphoria as, we know from bitter experience, what lies just around the corner. As masterful as Capello has been, he is not a magician and he will not necessarily be able to save us from our traditional susceptibility to the inevitability of the fall.

The last year has been about restoring the health of the patient. The signs are good but the omens are not.

Capello's Spanish lessons

Fabio Capello has vowed to learn from the 2-0 defeat to Spain. We are not sure how Capello’s mastery of the English language is progressing, but after England’s performance in Seville he might have to expand his vocabulary somewhat with insipid and pallid becoming useful additions. The second half, in particular, was more like a return to the bad old days of McClaren with aimless balls heading in the general direction of Crouch who looked out of his depth as he always does against good international defenders.

England started the game confidently enough with Heskey proving his value as a focal point and there was some neat but hardly threatening passages of play. Agbonlahor busied himself in the wake of his senior partner but never looked like breaking free from his Spanish markers who had an increasingly comfortable evening.

Unfortunately after their impressive performances against Germany, both Wright-Phillips and Downing were disappointing and neither offered much down the flanks. It is essential when playing possession football to have some invention and thrust down the wings, but apart from one jinking run by Wright-Phillips there was little on offer.

It has to be acknowledged that Spain are a pretty formidable outfit, now on a 29 match unbeaten run and buoyed by their Euro 2008 success they are self-assured and fluid throughout the team. From rampaging full backs through the artistry and control of midfield to the razor sharp strikers, there are very few flaws. Although inevitably much of the attention was centred on Beckham’s 108th cap we would do well to focus on the Spaniard who knits their play together so adeptly.

If you were ever perplexed why Fabregas, one of the best Premier League players, fails to make the starting line-up just observe the wonderful Iniesta for a few minutes. He has a quick mind and delightful touch which elevate him to a higher plain, exemplified by a sublime disguised pass inside Glen Johnson in the first which left the Portsmouth player very much dazed and confused.

As it was a friendly, there was the usual rash of second half substitutes but none had much impact on the tide which had been turning since Villa slipped the ball past James as Spain upped the tempo towards the end of the first half. Beckham showed he is still officially an LA Galaxy player by spraying too many “Hollywood Balls”, as Ron Atkinson used to describe those long passes, which look great but often achieve little. Lampard looked like he was pining over the loss of Big Phil and was so off key that he hardly passed to a teammate for 15 minutes.

After the encouraging signs of the last handful of matches, Capello now needs to accelerate the rate of improvement. He is the right man for this role and he will learn from the experience but he needs to be realistic about the task ahead of him. He has very little time in which to cement the advances he has brought about so far and then try to narrow the gap between genuine World Cup contenders, such as Spain, and potential also-rans like England.