England Manager Fabio Capello Short on Ideas to Rebuild Team Confidence
The scars of the 2010 World Cup Round of 16 drubbing at the hands of Germany have not healed yet for English football coach Fabio Capello, who claims that he is bereft of ideas as to how he can bring his team back on track for their qualification campaign for Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The Italian had high hopes from his squad at the start of the first ever World Cup staged in Africa, yet it all went downhill for him as his team struggled to reach the second round before facing a humiliating 4-1 defeat to the Germans.
One of the most high profile managers in the game conceded that he was yet to find a way of rebuilding his players' confidence after their less-than-impressive World Cup campaign.
However, he is not willing to relinquish his post just yet as he hopes to somehow turn the corner, but he is not aware of the method to do so for the time being at least.
The poor performance in the World Cup attracted criticism from all quarters for the coach, as the media claimed that he was incapable of running the affairs of England and ought to be axed. The fans were bitterly disappointed as the English Lions were rated as one of the favourites for the tournament that was eventually won by Spain for the first time.
"I don't know what we have to do to improve the minds of the players. At this moment, I don't know," Capello told a news conference that was held to highlight the preparations for the friendly against Hungry set to be played on Wednesday.
The Italian insists that the World Cup campaign was a tough one and that his squad has learnt a lot of lessons out of the experience. He added that it has been a great learning curve for him also, and has toughened him up for the task at hand.
"Yes, I think. Every experience is important, for the men, for the manager, for everyone and you learn a lot; I learned a lot," said Capello.
Capello asserted that all his energies were being spent on helping his team prepare for the tough challenges ahead, and he feels that the experience of World Cup elimination would help iron out the deficiencies in his team.
The immediate task for the manager remains the qualification for the finals of the 2012 edition of the European championship.
The biggest tournament in International football in the continent is set to be staged in Eastern Europe with Poland and Ukraine co-hosting the event.
The match against Hungary is the only warm-up before the commencement of the qualification campaign that will have England pitted against formidable opponents like Bulgaria, Switzerland, Montenegro and Wales.
For Wednesday’s match, the Italian has called up just 10 of his 23-man World Cup for this squad.
He has also recalled Fulham striker Bobby Zamora; the striker was left out of the World Cup squad, and his axing for the tournament is something that Capello regrets.
"Well I think when you lose something, new experiences are important. You have to understand what really happened and you understand if I made, or we made, mistakes and from this improve, always. Everyone makes mistakes in life."
The conference was rounded off by Capello with a firm assertion that he was indeed the man to take England football forward. "Yes, I'm here because I think I can do something for this team, the national team, because my experience is good to improve them all."
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