Euro 2012: England’s footballers start the long road back to regaining the nation’s trust
There will be a distinctly uneasy feeling around the England training base at Arsenal’s London Colney this week, and not just because of the presence of a Liverpool club doctor waiting – but ultimately failing – to be given permission to get his hands on Carlton Cole.
The atmosphere would have been fraught because those players such as Cole who didn’t go to the World Cup will have been mixing with some of those who did. Well, imagine coming face-to-face with the people who ruined your summer?
Most of them anyway. Thirteen of the 23 men who so spectacularly failed in South Africa are in this squad for the upcoming double header with Bulgaria at Wembley and Switzerland in Basel. John Terry and Frank Lampard aren’t amongst them after injuries, but most of the other symbols of England’s underachievement will be there, including the manager.
Fabio Capello must wake up in a cold sweat wondering just what would have become of him had Steven Gerrard not provided two spectacular interventions at the end of the Hungary friendly three weeks ago.
Yes, it was only a friendly, but with England 1-0 down heading into the final stages of the match, those knives that were being sharpened ever since Bloemfontein at the end of June were coming out. Capello dare not have lost that game ahead of these two, and his captain’s heroics spared more than just his blushes, but as he heads into Euro 2012 combat – surely the tournament that he now wants his reign to be judged on – he needs to stop relying on his big players to get him out of jail. He gambled on it at the World Cup and lost, he surely can’t afford to do so again.
England’s sympathisers – or more likely optimists – are keen to paint this as a new era for the national team.
New players have indeed been added to this squad, but they’d all been in and around it before. While some would say that Capello has finally seen that some players deserve their chance to shine ahead of those who failed in South Africa, others would simply see this as shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.
England will surely qualify from a group that contains Bulgaria, Switzerland, Wales and Montenegro, but the nation is unlikely to learn much from that.
Even if Capello’s side breeze through Group G – as they did in reaching the World Cup – then that doesn’t automatically make them one of the favourites to succeed in Poland and the Ukraine in two years’ time, as many of their cheerleaders would undoubtedly have us believe.
There is still a lot of work to be done both on the training field and on the pitch, and the challenge for the likes of Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Gareth Barry – and indeed Terry and Lampard when they return – is to regain the nation’s trust.
The widespread reaction to Gerrard’s brace against Hungary was simply “why couldn’t you do that in South Africa?” and the rough ride that many of the players have received from supporters – admittedly not their own club’s – in the opening weeks of the Premier League season will have left them under no illusions that the wounds from the summer are still raw.
Capello still bears the brunt of that ire though. Where once he was regarded with respect and dignity, he is now looked upon with ridicule and doubt.
He, more than anyone, has his neck on the line on Friday night.
Euro 2012 previews:
http://www.senore.com/EURO-2012-Tough-task-awaits-new-Scotland-boss-Craig-Levein-a24981
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-John-Toshack-running-out-of-time-to-help-Wales-youngsters-prove-their-worth-a24977
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-Northern-Ireland-bid-to-end-European-Championship-hoodoo-a24973
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-Republic-of-Ireland-looking-to-overcome-Paris-heartache-a24975
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