Fabio Capello and England on the road to redemption
As substitute Darren Bent slammed in England’s third goal against Switzerland in Basle, Fabio Capello sported a rare beaming smile and then bizarrely poked his tongue out at his coaching staff.
The England faithful could forgive his unique, and possibly somewhat disturbing, celebration, though. The Italian had every reason to feel pleased with himself and his players after last night’s 3-1 victory.
Capello’s men controlled the match for large spells, defended confidently, looked dangerous in the final third and took their chances. An altogether stark contrast from the ill-fated World Cup finals, which are already beginning to feel like a distant memory. The red card for Stephan Lichtsteiner in the second-half simply spurred England on further, and in the end, the scoreline was an accurate reflection of the match.
The England manager had been under intense pressure since the end of the World Cup. Speculation was rife that he would lose his job, but the FA wisely opted to ignore the inevitable, fierce tabloid backlash and confirmed that Capello would oversee England’s Euro 2012 qualification campaign.
On the evidence of the first two qualifiers, it’s a decision which now looks inspired.
In the days and weeks after England’s humiliating exit from South Africa, a visibly disappointed Capello was repentant. He acknowledged that he had made his own mistakes at the tournament, and was desperate to have a second chance to make amends.
And the Italian has duly grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Now firmly on the road to redemption, Capello is fully aware of the pressures that come with managing England, and full credit must go to the 64-year-old for not fleeing when the going got tough. Even though he would have been well within his rights to after enduring weeks of unfair, and sometimes downright embarrassing, criticism.
Several times over the past week, Capello has found himself in a lose-lose situation with regards to team selection, but accepted that criticism comes with the high-profile position.
If he wasn’t being slammed for failing to call-up youngsters with next to no international experience, then it was for sticking with the 4-4-2 formation. But as England proudly sit top of Group G with six points from two matches and seven goals scored, a host of critics are poised to eat their words this morning.
OK, so it’s far from job done just yet. And two qualifying victories don’t make up for a massively disappointing World Cup campaign. But the calls to sack the manager were knee-jerk and would have resulted in England losing out on the services of one of Europe’s finest coaches.
There’s still work to be done. Although it’s hard to deny that in the space of four days, England’s short-term future now looks considerably brighter than it did a week ago.
And even if England’s success increases the danger of Capello poking his tongue out again, the supporters won’t mind too much.
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