England expects as Terry retraction shows that Capello is still in charge

Only one winner

Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Argentina have shown the rest of us how it is done. They have shown that it is possible to pass and control this World Cup ball. They have shown that you can play attractive and effective football and they have shown that you can score goals.

I normally object strongly to the people who talk about ‘overpaid’ players and ‘spoilt’ footballers, but this current England squad stand on the brink of joining the French in everyone in the world thinking that about them.

Cheap

People say that they would give anything to swap places with the footballers and play the game for a living and represent their country. That is a cheap throw away comment because to get to the top in football you have to have a huge amount of talent, a huge amount of desire and determination and you have to sacrifice an awful lot of what the rest of us regard as the best bits of growing up.

They do get paid a huge amount of money but that is because people are willing to pay it and who can blame them for accepting it.

Fool

Having said that, the England players are close to making a bit of a fool of themselves. To complain about being bored, to criticise fans who have travelled thousands of miles and paid thousands of pounds to support you, to openly criticise team selection and tactics, whilst playing so badly and without passion in the World Cup finals is, at best, just a little bit rich.

Wayne Rooney has complained about the routine, saying it consists of,

“Breakfast, training, lunch, bed, dinner, bed.”

Rooney was of course also the man who after his and his team’s abject performance against Algeria reacted to the booing by saying to camera,

“Nice for your own fans to boo you. That’s loyal support.”

Then John Terry stepped forward to tell the world’s media that the England players were going to have ‘clear the air’ talks with the manager Fabio Capello. He didn’t hold back and said various things that were either open, honest and brave, or just plain stupid.

Defences

He said that Joe Cole should be playing as he and Wayne Rooney are the only two England players capable of opening up defences. He said that some players did not show enough passion and he said that in the forthcoming meeting a few things would need to be said that might upset Capello or some of the players.

It was shocking stuff and the regime that Capello runs does not sound like the type of regime where such a meeting would take place.

Remarkably

The day after Terry’s press conference everything is then played down by the players and remarkably, John Terry retracts his statement saying that there was never going to be a ‘clear the air’ meeting.

Frank Lampard speaks to the press and tries to cover the issue by saying how passionate John Terry is.

“I think it’s been particularly overdone in terms of a ‘crisis meeting’. The meeting was just the manager dealing with the Algeria match and we moved on. That is John for you, he is a passionate man and a passionate player, but it was just an ordinary meeting. We have three or four of them each week to look at different things and, no, it was not heated at all. Every person deals with things differently. Some won’t say much and others want to hit things head-on. But people want to see a reaction and people have said John has said some positive things. We’ll try to hit things head-on on the training ground.”

When asked if he and others had been upset by Terry’s comments about Cole and Rooney he replied,

“I don’t think players are that sensitive. I wasn’t knocking John’s door down saying ‘Do you think I can’t unlock a defence?’.”

It is all very strange we may have to wait until one of the players writes a book after the tournament to tell us what actually went on. It looks to me as though John Terry spoke as an individual and has now isolated himself from the squad. Fabio Capello will not have been pleased by what Terry said and the retraction may well have been the only way he could stay in South Africa.

The next thing we know Fabio Capello is doing an interview with ITV to say that John Terry is the only player complaining and that he made, ‘a very big mistake’ by saying what he said.

True

Lampard and Terry have both said that there are no divisions within the camp and that all the players are totally behind Capello. That simply doesn’t ring true.

Whilst I totally disagree with Capello’s team selection and tactics so far, that is the job he is paid handsomely to do. The players simply have to follow his instructions and play to the best of their ability. It is not for them to tell the press or the manager that he is wrong.

Faith

I have faith in Capello and I just about still have faith in the players. One scruffy own goal in the last minute against Slovenia and we would be in the last sixteen and all the mess and furore would soon be forgotten.

The players owe it to themselves, the fans and the manager to do their job on Wednesday. It is time for the football to do the talking and for the players to just get on with their jobs.