Despite the promises he made when taking the job, Fabio Capello seemed to break them one by one as we looked on in amazement as the cracks began to show through. Capello had promised not to take players that were injured, yet Gareth Barry and Leadly King were taken and started when Capello considered them fit enough. King then picked up an injury against the USA, as we assumed he would, and Barry had no match fitness and couldn't keep up with play. When James Milner was ill he started against the USA. Capello must have noticed in the warm up Milner wasn't in the right condition to play, everyone else did in the first five minutes of the game.
Capello also vowed to use his in-form players. Michael Dawson was left out of the squad initially to accommodate Matthew Upson who had spent a torrid season at West Ham putting in miserable performance after miserable performance. One player who did stand-out for West Ham however was Scott Parker. Playing the same role as Barry but much fitter, Parker would have been the sensible option to take.
Capello then stunned supporters everywhere by asking Jamie Carragher and Paul Scholes to come out of retirement. Scholes stuck to his guns by rebuffing the offer. Unfortunately for us, Carragher, who played no part in England's qualifying campaign, decided to take up Capello's invitation and join the squad. He featured in just one and a half games, picked up two yellow cards and was suspended for the third game. What made Carragher's brief return even more sickening was his decision to announce his re-retirement at the end of the tournament. Never has someone sold his own morals out so quickly because he though he may have gained from it. He hadn't played well at Liverpool that season and his brief England performances were woeful.
Returning to in-form players, Capello also left out Darren Bent, the highest scoring English striker besides Wayne Rooney. Apparently scoring 25 goals isn't good enough. This fact really makes you wonder why Emile Heskey won a place in the squad. Scoring only 5 goals all season and scoring 7 England goals in 62 appearances (a record matched by some goalkeepers), Emile Heskey was Capello's sub of choice while England goalscoring machine Peter Crouch looked on with confusion, and possibly eyeing up the Algerian girls in the crowd.
One key thing that England were lacking in the World Cup was hunger. The players that featured in South Africa played as if they were expected to be picked and didn't need to put the effort in. Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Barry and Johnson underperformed, and not for the first time, and it seemed, at times, as if they didn't care. These players could have been replaced by a group that would bring passion and hunger to the squad. They may not be as technically gifted as the aforementioned players but the likes of Parker, Walcott, Johnson, Huddlestone, Warnock, Bent and Baines would have brought heart and soul into this team. These players would put the prima donnas into their place and given one hundred per cent for England. This group of players built around Gerrard, Ashley Cole and Rooney, when he returns to form, and England will have a formidable side.
Capello must take on-board the mistakes he made in South Africa. He needs to keep the promises he made to the nation when he took over the team. The signs are good. For the friendly against Hungary he subbed Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard and replaced them with the likes of Ashley Young, Bobby Zamora and also youngsters such as Kieron Gibbs and Jack Wilshire. Keeping his promises will make the difference as to whether England will compete in Euro 2012, or disappoint once again.
