Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

Capello learns who not to pick

Mon Nov 16 08:48AM

Fabio Capello claimed he learned valuable lessons from England's shambolic display against Brazil in Doha - presumably that a one-legged Gary Neville would be a better option for South Africa than Wes Brown.

Despite the dreadful performance, Capello is probably right. It would have been nice for England to play well, but at this stage it is just as important to find out who is rubbish as who is good.

Capello's first XI for the World Cup is almost nailed down. Between now and June his job will be to whittle his squad down to 23.

If he can now strike Brown, Darren Bent and Jermaine Jenas off the 'maybe' list and file them under 'use only in the event of plague or pestilence', then that is progress of sorts.

Nor should it be a major concern that England's back-ups are not as good as the first-teamers. Isn't that how it ought to be?

If the likes of Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard really are world class, isn't it right that their absence should be missed?

And Matthew Upson's blundering display proved the perfect antidote to the speeding bandwagon of opinion that Rio Ferdinand should be dropped.

Along with the media's condemnation of England came lavish praise for a Brazil side that ambled through the second half barely breaking a sweat - more than can be said for Fabio Capello who ended the game sporting Jose Antonio Camacho's under-arm perspiration patches.

This may run counter to football's unthinking accepted wisdom, but ED does not even think Brazil are that good.

Their best player on Saturday was Nilmar, who failed to make the grade at Lyon and has scored twice in 14 games since returning to Europe with Villarreal.

Among the others on show were Gilberto Silva and Elano - both are well known to Premier League fans, and neither would strike fear into Exeter, let alone England.

It's true they were without their South American-based players but they do not have many match-winners playing their domestic football in Brazil, unless you count rotund strike duo Adriano and Ronaldo, or former Manchester United... er, what was he exactly?.. water carrier Kleberson. And you probably don't.

Imagine what the damage might have been by Spain, with their five world-class midfielders and two world-class strikers? Actually, you don't have to. England have played them three times in the last five years and lost on each occasion.

- - -

Of course the real action took place at Croke Park, where Giovanni Trapattoni's luck finally ran out in Ireland's first competitive defeat under his stewardship.

Trap's men went down to a deflected Nicolas Anelka goal for France, and were second best in everything but the final whistle fisticuffs, which paired Keith Andrews and Richard Dunne against Yoann Gourcuff and Lassana Diarra.

It is still just about a contest at 1-0, but any French goal would more or less kill the tie off - you just can't see the Irish scoring twice. In fact, it takes a mini-leap of faith to imagine them finding the net at all.

All right-minded football folk want the French to slip up, as there is a widespread perception the last-minute decision to seed the play-off draw was motivated by Les Bleus' presence in it.

Even if France do go through, FIFA will still have egg on their face as the seeding system managed to pair Greece and Ukraine in the most unattractive head-to-head since 'Alas Smith and Jones' went off the air.

After the referee ended 90 turgid, goal-free minutes, a graphic came on the TV screen saying: 'KICKS - Greece 8, Ukraine 10'.

It wasn't a foreign producer falling foul of the language barrier; there really were only 18 meaningful touches of the ball.

- - -

George Burley held on to his job as Scotland boss despite a miserable World Cup qualifying campaign, but the final straw was Saturday's 3-0 humping by a bunch of Welsh teenagers.

Burley will be sacked this week after winning just three of 14 matches, and presiding over a fall in FIFA World Rankings that has seen them slip behind Costa Rica, Gabon and Northern Ireland.

While it is fun to list 'rubbish' countries ranked ahead of Scotland, does anybody actually think they would beat the above-mentioned sides?

ED does not know what sacking Burley will achieve, since the problem is not with the manager but the personnel at his disposal.

Chastising Burley for a (comparatively narrow) failure to reach the World Cup is like watching a caveman invent the wheel, then complaining that it doesn't have alloys.

The pool of players Alex Ferguson had to choose from in 1986 was so strong he could afford to leave Alan Hansen at home - Graeme Souness, Gordon Strachan, Charlie Nicholas and Steve Archibald were among the quality players on the plane to Mexico.

Who are the equivalents in Burley's squad? Don Cowie? Graham Dorrans? Kevin Kyle?

Rather than firing a manager who has done a decent job with an awful squad, the SFA would be better off persuading the youth of Scotland to put down their deep-fried Mars bars and have a kickabout.

Not for nothing did ED, on its way to work, hear a Scottish schoolboy, talking on the radio about a stargazing trip, describe the Plough as "like a frying pan".

- - -

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I am third choice for Manchester United at the moment yet I am playing for my country. It is very disheartening not even to be on the bench at United. Edwin (van der Sar) is one of the best keepers in the world. I can't really go knocking on the manager's door and say he is not doing his job because he is." Ben Foster continues goalkeeper whinge week at Manchester United.

FOREIGN VIEW: Argentina coach Diego Maradona has been given a two-month ban and fined over £14,800 following his globally-broadcast foul-mouthed outburst at the end of last month's decisive World Cup qualifier in Uruguay.

Maradona, you may remember, invited journalists to fellate him in a rant that would have made Joe Kinnear blush, telling them to "suck it and keep on sucking".

FIFA said the sanction would start immediately and run until January 15. It means Maradona will not have to miss any competitive internationals, although Argentina are due to face the Czech Republic in a friendly at a venue to be decided next month.

COMING UP: No live football today, but plenty of reason to lurk around this website like the cyber-pests you are. We review the international weekend in full, get Paul Parker's view on England and mumble indistinctly for 20 minutes or so on this week's podcast.

• Email
• Share:
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Stumbleupon
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine