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Capello's perfect record puts England on the right path

June 10 - 16, 2009
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It is now six games and six wins for the England manager and his team following the 4-0 win over Kazakhstan last Saturday and there is no reason to believe he will not make it seven in tonight's home encounter with Andorra.

They say there are no easy games in international football but this one is with the minnows having no points in this campaign and only scoring two goals. This should be a rout and the Italian could put his fourth string side out, let alone his second one, and still win comfortably.

His team sits seven points clear at the top of the group and only require one more win after tonight's game to secure a place at South Africa 2010.

This qualification has been a complete transformation compared to what we saw under McClaren as the Italian has made winning games against lesser sides a formality. This is as much a mental change as it is a physical one.

In Terry, Gerrard and Rooney the team has a spine that has character written all over it as they all lead their clubs in terms of drive and ambition and it is no surprise Capello has been able to harness this on the international stage.

Saturday's game started off in worrying fashion when Terry had to make a crucial block within the first few seconds before a second effort was ruled offside a few minutes later. The 7,000-mile round trip appeared to be taking its toll but slowly they took control of the game and Gareth Barry eventually slotted home to put England in front and they never looked back.

It finished off an eventful weekend for the ex-Villa and now Manchester City player who had had made the switch earlier in the week. He will, though, miss the game tonight after getting a late yellow card but his place in the squad and also, maybe, the team, is now secure.

Just before the interval in stoppage time Heskey scored his first England goal for seven years to put them 2-0 up and make Capello's half-time team talk a comfortable one. This is an amazing statistic for a striker even taking into account he has not always been a first team regular.

It is widely acknowledged most goal scoring strikers like to play with the Villa man but even so you would expect him to have a better record than this. In crucial tight games you often only get one chance and it is probably best for England that it does not fall to Heskey.

The second half followed the predicted pattern and was punctuated by a great overhead kick by Rooney and a Lampard penalty to give a convincing look to the scoreline. It is easy to concentrate on some of the more worrying aspects of this game such as the casual start but Capello knows it has been a long season and this was a long journey, so 4-0 reads very well in his books. It is a result his predecessor would have struggled to achieve during his tenure.

Can this team go on and lift the World Cup? Well, it is not impossible but until they play against better opposition it will be difficult to judge and they certainly struggled when they played European champions Spain earlier in the season.

It will be essential that all his top players stay healthy and in good form come next summer if they are really to threaten the top nations but at least there is professionalism around the England camp that has not been seen for some years.

It has been a long season punctuated by that fantastic performance by Barcelona but it is not long until it all starts again such is the nature of modern football and with a World Cup to look forward to it is an exciting prospect.







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