CAPELLO DEPENDING ON ROONEY TO STEER ENGLAND TO WORLD CUP TRIUMPH
England’s coach Fabio Capello believes that Wayne Rooney has the ability to take the English team to World Cup glory. Capello is depending on Rooney's prolific form to guide England in the World Cup.
The retired Italian footballer and coach of the Three lions has revealed that he has selected his starting 11 for England’s World Cup opening game against Unites States of America in Rustenburg on Saturday. He believes that the Manchester United striker is ready to take the World Cup by storm. Talking about Rooney, he said, “He is in good moment, he trains very well and he scores goals during training which is important for him. I think he will play a fantastic World Cup.” Capello also toned down rumours that the pressure of managing England and the huge expectations surrounding the squad were beginning to get to him. Talking about his recent outburst at photographers at England’s training camp, he said, “I am relaxed. I can understand the pressure because in every moment we walk around you can see the security, the journalists, you can see when you move to golf, you need to police a lot of this. I understand that this is a really important moment for the country.”
Capello is facing a dilemma over the selection of goalkeeper for England’s opening game. He has to choose between David James, Robert Green and Joe Hart. Additionally, he also has to choose between Tottenham Hotspur winger Aaron Lennon and Manchester City’s Shaun Wright Phillips for position of right wing, which was left vacant by David Beckham after his injury. After the injury of captain and Manchester United’s defender Rio Ferdinand, the position of centre-back is also vacant. He has the option to select either lanky Michael Dawson or his Tottenham Hotspur teammate Ledley King to pair up with John Terry in the centre. And the selection of Peter Crouch, Emile Heskey or Jermain Defoe is still not final. Either one of them will partner Wayne Rooney up-front.
England’s recent performances are far from convincing. However, they played impressively in the World Cup qualifying matches. Capello believes that in his 18 month charge of the ‘Four Lions’, he has brought large improvements to a team which even failed to qualify for 2008 Euro Championship. According to him, England’s team is now full of spirit and determination and will fight till the end to win the greatest prize in the world of football.
Meanwhile, football's greatest player and living legend Pele has tipped Euro Champions Spain and his home team Brazil as the biggest contenders for the World Cup. According to him, both of these teams are the best of their respective continents. But he also has not ruled out the possibility of the African side reaching the final. Pele has also said that Argentina will improve on their erratic qualifying campaign, as they have the best player in form of Messi in their squad. Pele believes that the football world is still divided between teams that are efficient and those teams which play with flair and energy. According to him, Italy, Germany and England are very strong teams but they are not capable of playing a beautiful game. On the other hand, Pele listed Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands as those with a more entertaining style. Pele also said that with increased globalization of football, the competence gap between teams has considerably narrowed down. And with the advent of this phenomenon, the matches in the World Cup will be more competitive, and coaches will have better chance to negate their opponents. According to him, Brazilian Kaka and Robinho, along with Argentinean wonder boy Lionel Messi are the most dangerous players. Pele, who is considered the greatest player ever to play football, will be turning 70 this year. He played for Brazil in 4 World Cups and helped his country win three. He was part of the team which was termed as the golden generation of Brazilian football. He played most of his club football at Brazil’s famous club Santos before moving to American club New York Cosmos.
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