I’ve gone from A God to A Monster
Sep.03, 2010, under EURO 2012
Capello last night admitted he was seen as a God - but now he is a monster.
The under-fire England boss takes his team into battle tonight for their opening Euro 2012 qualifier with Bulgaria.
He said: “You create the God and you create the monster, no?
“This is my team. We lost one game in the World Cup, against Germany, after one big mistake from the ref. No one remembers this.
“But, after that, opinion about me changed completely.
“Still, it’s no problem for me. I can live with it.
“It is part of a manager’s job. When you win, you’re the best. When you lose, you’re the worst.
“We have to play without fear. The players have trained with a lot of confidence and we have to see that against Bulgaria.”
Capello admits he was relieved with the reaction of the fans towards stars like Wayne Rooney during last month’s friendly with Hungary, which saw England struggle to a 2-1 win.
Skipper Steven Gerrard was the saviour that day with two cracking goals at Wembley.
Capello said: “I was a little concerned in the last game but, after 10 minutes, the fans stopped booing and supported us.
“We owe them. The supporters of England are fantastic, the best in the world.”
Same old England?
Sep.03, 2010, under EURO 2012
FABIO CAPELLO goes back to the future tonight by sticking with his World Cup flops.
Eight of the starting XI for England’s humiliating defeat by Germany will face Bulgaria.
Keeper Joe Hart, Phil Jagielka and Theo Walcott come in for David James and crocked duo John Terry and Frank Lampard.
And if Terry and Lampard were fit, Capello would have made just ONE change for the Euro 2012 qualifier.
The Italian insisted: “I’ve learned something from a new experience in South Africa.
“I changed something a bit - but not a lot.”
Too right. Yet, after England’s World Cup debacle in June, Capello said: “I think we’ll find two or three new players, probably for the Euros.
“The best young players are in the Under-21s and are not ready to play here at the World Cup.
“I hope some good players will be ready in six months, it’s possible.” (continue reading…)
Spurs get Rafael Van der Vaart for £8m
Sep.02, 2010, under La Liga, Premier League
Tottenham have secured the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart for £8m.
Spurs moved to sign the 27-year-old Netherlands international two hours before the transfer window closed at 1800 BST on Tuesday.
But the club’s urgency to file the necessary paperwork before the deadline was hampered by a technical problem.
However, the Premier League sanctioned the signing after investigating Tottenham’s claims on Wednesday.
Spurs faced an anxious wait as the Premier League assessed their claims with the 1700 BST cut-off point on Wednesday fast approaching for clubs to submit their 25-man senior squads for the first half of the season.
Van der Vaart becomes Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp’s second deadline-day signing following the capture of Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa on a season-long loan from Russian club Spartak Moscow. (continue reading…)
David Moyes linked with Aston Villa’s job
Aug.31, 2010, under Premier League
Everton manager David Moyes is reportedly the favourite to take up the job at Aston Villa.
The Birmingham-based club are in the hunt for a new manager following the exit of Martin O’Neill on the eve of the season. The Irishman left following a disagreement with owner Randy Lerner, leaving the club to appoint Kevin MacDonald as the caretaker boss while looking for a permanent replacement.
Now The Mirror reports that the Villans see Moyes as the right man the take the club forward, as he has a lot of experience in working with a shoestring budget while at the same time getting the best out of his players.
This also comes in the light of bookmakers slashing odds on the former Preston North End boss to be the next manager at Villa Park, as he is believed to be tired of working at Goodison Park.
The Scot has spent eight years with the Toffees, but has nothing to show for his efforts in keeping the club as competitive as they have been in recent years - even breaking into the top four on one occasion.
Villa have already maintained that they are looking for a manager with prior experience in managing a Premier League club, effectively ruling out several manager who had previously been linked with the job - including USA coach Bob Bradley.
It has been speculated that Blackburn Rovers boss Sam Allardyce could be another name being discussed by the upper echelon at Villa.
Van Persie got ankle injury again
Aug.31, 2010, under Premier League
Arsenal striker Robin van Persie will be sidelined for “at least a few weeks” with an ankle injury, according to the Dutch Football Association.
The 27-year-old suffered the injury during Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Blackburn in the Premier League on Saturday.
Van Persie will miss Netherlands’ European Championship qualifiers against San Marino and Finland.
He missed five months last season after damaging ankle ligaments while on international duty.
In Van Persie’s absence, Hamburg’s former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has been called up by the national team for the first time in two years.
After missing much of last season through injury, Van Persie was an ever present as the Netherlands reached the World Cup final, but he has had a frustrating start to the current campaign.
Lacking full match fitness, he made only brief appearances in Arsenal’s opening fixtures against Liverpool and Blackpool before his first start of the campaign was curtailed by injury after 35 minutes on Saturday.
Marouane Chamakh, who led the line after replacing Van Persie on Saturday, is likely to continue to play as Arsenal’s sole forward with Denmark international Nicklas Bendtner also unavailable because of a groin injury.
Lampard and Terry out of Euro 2012 matches
Aug.29, 2010, under International
Chelsea duo Frank Lampard and John Terry have been ruled out of England’s opening Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland with injuries.
After the 2-0 win over Stoke, Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti said Lampard will have a hernia operation next week.
And a Chelsea statement later revealed Terry is out due to problems with his right hamstring and glute muscles.
Bobby Zamora and Peter Crouch are doubts for the games next Friday, 3 September, and Tuesday, 7 September.
But the absence of key Chelsea pair Lampard and Terry will trouble England boss Fabio Capello more ahead of the matches against Bulgaria at Wembley and in Basel, the team’s first competitive action since their 4-1 defeat by Germany in the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup. (continue reading…)
Bayern fall in Fritz-Walter stadium : Kaiserslautern 2-0 Bayern
Aug.27, 2010, under Bundesliga
Bayern suffered an unexpected setback at the start of the new Bundesliga campaign, losing away to promoted Kaiserslautern despite claiming almost three-quarters of the possession and creating chance after chance in the second half, only to be undone by the underdogs’ prodigious effort and willpower.
The 49,780 capacity crowd at the Fritz-Walter stadium saw the visitors boss the play from the off, but Thomas Müller squandered a golden opportunity to hand his side the lead, and Ivo Ilicevic and Srdjan Lakic stunned the champions with two goals in 60 seconds ten minutes before half-time. Louis van Gaal’s men laid siege to the home goal in the second half, but the shooting was too often wayward and the home side’s resistance too dogged on an off night for the men from Munich.
With no league fixtures next weekend due to Euro 2012 qualifying, the Bavarians are next in Bundesliga action at 6.30 in the evening on Saturday 11 September, when fellow Champions League hopefuls Werder Bremen visit the Allianz Arena.
Van Gaal made just one change to the side which sealed a last-gasp win over Wolfsburg in the restart fixture a week ago, fit-again Ivica Olic taking over from Toni Kroos. Otherwise, keeper Jörg Butt lined up behind full-backs Philipp Lahm and Diego Contento, and central defenders Daniel van Buyten and Holger Badstuber. (continue reading…)
Atletico 2-0 Inter : ATletico win the Super Cup
Aug.27, 2010, under UEFA
A counter-attacking Colchoneros side got the better of Inter at the Stade Louis II to lift the 2010 UEFA Super Cup.
José Antonio Reyes and Sergio Aguero got their names on the scoresheet in the second half as Atletico made their chances count in European football’s curtain raiser.
With time running out Diego Milito had a penalty kick saved by David De Gea.
Rafael Benitez made one change from the starting XI that won us the Champions League and the Italian Super Cup, bringing in Dejan Stankovic for Goran Pandev.
Quique Sanchez Flores also made a single switch from the team that beat Fulham to win the inaugural Europa League, summer signing Diego Godin replacing Antonio Lopez at the centre of defence.
An evenly-balanced first half saw Samuel head over and Eto’o fire narrowly wide before two good chances for Aguero - one inches off target and the other well wide.
It was more Spain than Italy in the second half as Atletico found more space on the break, and Reyes broke the deadlock on 62 minutes. He combined swiftly with Aguero and rounded Maicon before firing past Julio Cesar at his near post.
Inter reverted to their Champions League-winning lineup with Pandev on for Stankovic and the Macedonian fired against the bar after De Gea had thwarted Milito, but the flag had already been raised for offside.
Another change was needed and Benitez handed brought on Coutinho for Sneijder. (continue reading…)
Wenger : There are hidden dangers in Arsenal’s Champions League draw
Aug.27, 2010, under Champions League
On Thursday evening, Arsenal were handed Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga and Partizan Belgrade in Group H. To many observers it was a decent draw. The Ukrainian champions had never reached the knockout phase of the competition while the other two teams could muster one Champions League campaign between them.
However, speaking exclusively to Arsenal.com on Friday morning, Wenger was more circumspect.
“I think it is more difficult than it looks because we have Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga who are two very good teams. Also there is a lot of travel too. We will be favourites but we start one week after the internationals when the players will have been away.
“We have more experience than the other teams but Shakhtar have some experience themselves and people forget Braga knocked out Sevilla by winning both games [in the Play-Offs].
“I am very confident of course and I am sure we will come out of it. But I don’t think we have an easy group. We’ll need to be on our toes.”
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