GROUP C/England v USA:FABIO CAPELLO will give James Milner until a couple of hours before kick-off tonight in Rustenburg to persuade him he is fit to start England's World Cup opener against the USA. The Italian insisted at last night's pre-match press conference in the city he was confident about his team's chances of success during the coming month but his opposite number, Bob Bradley, may take heart from the Capello's eagerness to start the Aston Villa midfielder out of position out on the left.
Despite the various problems that have accompanied his preparations for this tournament, Capello declared his aim here, as it always had been, was to emerge as victors.
“I’m focused always on winning; always,” he said. “In my career as a manager I have built teams, worked with players, and always I’ve been focused on winning. That’s all that matters to me, I exist to win.
“I want to see the English spirit of the team that I saw in qualification for the World Cup,” he continued, “a team that is really compact on the pitch. We are fresh and have trained really well. For me, this is fantastic, exciting.
“It’s a tough job but we have to live with the pressure. It’s not easy, but we try. I am a normal man, but my job is important and the World Cup is important for the country, the fans, and for me. We are sure that we will go forward in this competition.”
Whether England can really go achieve more than the last eight exit they managed in each of their last two World Cups remains to be seen, however, for a fair few cracks have appeared since the qualifying stages.
For a start the team looks hopelessly over-reliant on Wayne Rooney in attack and while the Americans deny they will target him physically, the striker’s underlying injury problems over the last few months must be a worry for the Italian as, he confirmed last night, is the player’s tendency to take such attention badly.
Both Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole have also endured enforced spells on the sidelines since Christmas and should either suffer a recurrence the quality of England’s cover is questionable, with an ageing Jamie Carragher and internationally inexperienced Stephen Warnock the prime candidates.
Rooney’s fitness may be something over which Capello has little control but he has had a long time to develop alternatives out wide at the back and should problems there prove the undoing of his side he will return to London with a somewhat dented reputation.
Nothing quite so drastic can be expected tonight although if the Americans are in with a shout of upsetting the group favourites even with any improper assistance from a Brazilian referee whose selection a leading club official back home described yesterday as “riskier than selling a sub-prime mortgage”.
The British media, needless to say, loved the controversy surrounding Carlos Simon, suspended last season after a series of high-profile mistakes.
It’s just a little hard to take their attitude to these things seriously since the day in Shizuoka back in 2002, when some were adamant Fifa had set them up to be robbed against Brazil by appointing a Mexican referee, with no amount of pointing out he was from a different part of the continent and spoke a different language having any impact on their views.
This week they have been looking for telltale signs the Americans might be getting it into their heads a repeat of their legendary victory over the England in Belo Horizonte just short of 60 years ago is is on the cards. And despite having played his football in Manchester and London for the last seven years, West Ham’s Jonathan Spector eventually gave them what they needed.
“Spector says English game will be our easiest” was the gist of the headlines despite the fact that what the defender actually said was they would have to contend with less pressure during the match as nothing would be expected of them.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
ENGLAND: Hart (Manchester City); Johnson (Liverpool), Terry (Chelsea), King (Tottenham), A Cole (Chelsea); Lennon (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Milner (Chelsea); Rooney (Manchester United); Crouch (Tottenham).
USA: Howard (Everton); Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Onyewu (Milan), DeMerit (Watford), Bocanegra (Rennes); Donovan (LA Galaxy), Bradley (Borussia M’gladbach), Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Dempsey (Fulham); Altidore (Hull City), Findley (Real Salt Lake)
