Fabio Capello: ‘Only the result is not good’
Was the glass half full or half empty?
As the USA celebrated the result of the 1-1 draw with England in their World Cup Group C, Fabio Capello, the England manager, chose to draw comforts from the positives of England’s opening game of the finals.
If this had been a boxing match then England may well have claimed a points’ decision. As it was, Capello was left ruing two points dropped after his goalkeeper, Robert Green, fell for another of the sucker punches that have afflicted England ‘keepers in recent years. From David Seaman, against Brazil in the 2002 World Cup quarter-final, to Paul Robinson and Scott Carson’s nightmare moments in matches against Croatia in the qualifying group matches for Euro 2008. Add one more to the list.
Green, having immediately entered a guilty plea in the dressing room at half-time, was in reflective mood after the match. “I was just trying to stop the ball. It’s a horrible mistake and once it’s, it’s done,” he said as he explained his thoughts thereafter. “Move on and there’s another 55 minutes left in the game and one thing I wasn’t going to do was cost us another. I’m pleased with how I bounced back from that and focusing on the here and now is the biggest thing.
“I can’t take it back, I can’t do anything about it and so helping the team as much as I can is the main aim.”
Capello still believes that England can realistically aim for the prize. “I’d say we created a lot of chances to score goals,” he said. We pressed a lot, we played a good game. They shoot once to the goal and score one goal. But I am really happy for the performance of the team. We are in a good moment and I think the next game will be better. Only the result is not good.”
Whether the goal that cost England the victory will now cost Green his place in the starting line up for the match with Algeria, in Cape Town on Friday, is open to debate – and Capello was not about to make any comments on that. “Sometimes a forward misses a goal, sometimes a ‘keeper makes mistakes. This is football. The second half, he played very well. I am really happy for him but the mistake remains,” was all that the manager was offering at this point.
Looking beyond that, Capello clearly believed that his glass was half full, even if it did not contain celebratory champagne. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that the much-discussed midfield partnership of Steven Gerard and Frank Lampard appeared to be one of the plus points of England’s performance.
“Everything was positive, only the result was not positive,” he said. “The two midfielders, Steve and Frank, played well. We had some chances to score goals but I have to accept the result and hope that the next time to be more lucky than this evening.”
For Gerard, his fourth-minute goal seemed a long time ago but the captain felt that England deserved better. “I’d say so – just. It was a difficult game,” Gerard said. “I think the most important thing in your first game is not to lose. The idea tonight was to win the game. Unfortunately we’ve let a poor goal in and we couldn’t go on and get the winner.
“I think it shocked us a bit. When you go in front, a team like us and the way that we defend, we expect to go on and win the match. So it was a bit of a shock, took us a while to get over it, but I thought we finished the game stronger. The target now has got to be seven points.”
As a loyal team man, when it came to pointing fingers, he shied away from blaming Green directly. “I think it’s one of those freak things. I don’t think you can criticise the goalkeeper. It’s one of the things – people have been talking about the ball and the ball is tricky so we need to get behind Robert and support him. And I’m sure he’ll make an important save further down the line for us.
“Robert’s a man – I’m sure he’ll learn from this – he’ll go from strength to strength and get an important save that wins us a match.”
Whether Green gets that chance against Algeria is another matter.
http://www.senore.com/England-v-USA-full-time-result-a12536
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