FIFA World Cup 2010: Capello Trying to Heal the Minds of the England Team as the Problem Lies in their Head
What is wrong with England, that question has been on the minds of millions of fans and pundits worldwide for decades, but no one seems to be able to understand their problems. When Manager Fabio Capello took charge of the team, he inherited a team which had number of stars, but fresh from the disappointments of not being able to make it to the euro 2008, the Italian started on a positive note.
In a few friendly matches throughout the qualifying campaign, a number of commanding performances from England, gave some hope to fans and there was a feeling that yes they might have a good world cup campaign this time round. However, what transpired in the first 2 games was hardly what anyone had hoped for, the same old headless chicken performance from the England team.
And after the match, England captain Steven Gerrard said that they need to take a good hard look at their team and their plans. And now the manager has come up with a new plan, which is to train their minds along with their bodies. He believes that he has done all he can to work on the physical side of the team, and the problem lies in their heads. The same players perform at a whole different level while playing for their respective clubs, but there is some sort of a mental block, which hampers their performance at the international level.
Capello has asked Mental trainer' Christian Lattanzio to try and talk to his players, and find out that what are the psychological issues that his players are dealing with.
Lattanzio’s till now has had a limited role in the England camp, but from now on he is believed to be one of the most important men in the England Set up, and will have constant sessions with players. He will work with them on day to day basis, especially leading up to their final group game against Slovenia, which has become all important now, after the tame draw against Algeria, and all hopes of England making it to the final 16 lie on that one match.
Lattanzio so far has hardly done anything in the camp to help the players in the mental side of the game, and has basically been described as a translator for Capello. His field of expertise is mind reading, and manager is pinning a lot of his hopes on Lattanzio’s ability to do exactly that and help his team prepare for the big match.
It is believed that Christian Lattanzio will have private sessions with each player, and will be talking about the issues he thinks is bothering them. In return hampering their on pitch performance, the sessions are to be extremely private, and everything discussed in them will remain strictly between Christian and the player.
In the past he has worked with London club West Ham United in the same capacity, and has had great effect on the team, the problem with England team is that not all players are willing to accept that they have a problem, and apart from a few none of them are even ready to have these therapeutic chats.
Capello believes if Christian is able to help the players overcome the mental block, there is no reason why the team should not be able to beat Slovenia convincingly and use that match as a spring board to catapult them to success in world cup.
There was also this other school of thought that there are too many stars in the team, and the big personalities and egos in the team are the reason for the team underperforming. Capello is no stranger to big names and stars, as he has been at the helm of big clubs in Europe, such as Juventus, Ac Milan and Real Madrid.
With all these clubs, the Italian has had big success, one would have to wait and see whether this new effort to try and treat the minds of the players will have any positive effect on the team, as this certainly is the last throw of the dice for England.
Tags: