Steve McClaren won’t be laughing

Yes, Steve McClaren is looking rather foolish these days. Even more foolish than the time he did a Gene Kelly when his English team was minging in the rain.

Even more foolish than the time he showed the world how good his grasp of the Dutch language was.

Thanks to supanovasky

No, it was almost four years ago that Steve McClaren banished David Beckham into the international wilderness, seemingly never to reach 100 caps or play at a major tournament again. This set Beckham’s career into a spiral where he fell out of favour with Fabio Capello at Real Madrid and seemed to be setting himself up for retiral in the world of US Soccer.
Wow – it shows how football is hard to predict.

McClaren guaranteed that no English players would be playing at a major tournament in 2008.

Capello relented and saw a Beckham inspired Real Madrid snatch La Liga…and the player was practically begged to postpone his Stateside jaunt.

And Beckham now stands on the brink of his first MLS title, back in favour with the national set-up and on 115 caps, ten away from the English record, held by Peter Shilton.

After disappointment, Beckham is determined to fully enjoy this World Cup and help England to glory.

Even if England triumph in South Africa, Beckham will be unable to beat Shilton’s record at that tournament but he is not ruling out playing on even further for England. A stint at AC Milan will ensure Beckham remains match-fit for the World Cup but he has already extended his MLS contract with the LA Galaxy.

In an interview with The Times, Beckham, when asked about what would happen if England triumphed and came so close to holding the record number of caps, stated;

“Even if that dream came true, I’d still make myself available to play for my country”

The role of Beckham is becoming marginalised but his ability to whip accurate cross balls into the box ensures he is a useful player to have in a squad. Pace and dribbling ability were never Beckham’s strong point so he hasn’t lost much there and no other English player has the ability to deliver telling crosses in the way that he can.

After McClarens axe in 2006, who would have thought Beckham would be looking to 2010 and beyond with so much vigour and optimism?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

To answer that, it is probably worthwhile to think about what England were hoping to learn from playing in this match.

Firstly, there was a consistency about the level of opposition they faced. Since the arrival of Fabio Capello, the friendlies undertaken by England have been of a much more serious nature. England are always liable to be ranked amongst the top seeds in the qualification processes so they are unlikely to come up against the other top nations in these matches. This can leave them badly exposed against the other major sides when it comes to playing in the knock-out stages.

France, Germany, Holland, Spain and now Brazil have all featured in the fixture list for England and by and large, the results haven’t been too bright. This won’t affect Capello too much and one of the biggest things the Italian boss has done has been to persuade the media of this fact.

Winning or losing in a friendly doesn’t really matter, it is always nicer to win but it is better to learn and at the moment, Capello is learning that his time are falling short against the big boys.

A virtually flawless qualifying campaign indicates there is not a lot wrong with England at the moment but a change in mentality will definitely be required in the knock out stages in South Africa. This is where Capello is likely to earn his money and he could be the main factor in pushing this English team further than they have ever been on foreign soil.

The English team was ravaged by injury, so one or two players may have played their way into the 23 man squad…and some may have played their way out.

Darren Bent, Jermaine Jenas and Jolene Lescott were extremely disappointing and if other players regain and then retain fitness, it is likely they could miss out next Summer. Another thing that Capello learned is that he has to keep Wayne Rooney fit or England’s hopes could be dashed yet again.

Thanks to FAEditor

One of the problems with England is that they always seem reliant on one player and it is this one player who succumbs to an injury in the months leading up to the tournament. This player is then forced into rushing back from injury and unable to be at their best. This has happened to David Beckham but is best exemplified by Wayne Rooney and the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Rooney was nowhere near fully fit, especially not for a tournament of this magnitude and his frustration blew over, seeing him red-carded against Portugal, a match that England eventually lost on penalties.

Capello will be praying his key players will be wrapped in cotton wool but is realistic to know that Rooney, Terry, Lampard and Gerrard will be involved in title races and European campaigns until the end of the season.

Well, maybe not Stevie Gerrard..Liverpool are likely to be in mid-table safety come March so he can put his feet up and rest. Of course, this means that Fernando Torres will be putting his feet up and preparing himself for the biggest stage of world football too.

Capello would also have learned that Brazil have a far greater strength in depth than he has, again, over a month long tournament, this is the sort of thing that can make or break a campaign. Even with Kaka being off form, Brazil look capable of making chances and opening teams up. Without Wayne Rooney, England look incapable of opening up a bottle of beer and this is something that needs to be worked upon.

Playing high class opposition in friendlies provides a lot of information but perhaps England need to arrange a few games against smaller teams to remind them of how to attack and score.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.