Capello after five

The era of Steve McClaren, the shortest on record as full-time England manager, was followed by another foreigner's tenure as the FA appointed Italian Fabio Capello head coach of the national team on December 14, 2007.

Like his foreign predecessor, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Capello has never managed a national team before and made his debut with the English team.

When Eriksson left, England suffered a nosedive and failed to qualify for one of the two major tournaments. McClaren had an unsuccessful period and England did not make it to 2008 European Championship finals.

Capello, born in June 18, 1946 in Gorizia, has one of the best pedigrees as a club coach. He has been in the business for 16 years after a brilliant playing career as a midfielder with Roma, Juventus and Milan. On the international scene, he scored against England (at Wembley) in the Italian blue shirt which he donned on 32 occasions.

As a coach he managed at Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus.

The honours that stand out are the European Cup with Milan in 1994 - beat Barcelona 4-0 in the final in Athens − and a total of nine domestic league titles in Italy and Spain.

His first stop, in 1991, was at the San Siro stadium with Milan where he led the side to a remarkable four championships in five years.

He moved to Real Madrid for a year and claimed the La Liga title.

After a short spell at first love Milan, he signed for Juventus in 2004, leading the 'Old Lady' to two consecutive league titles in 2005 and 2006. Real Madrid called again in summer of 2006 and Capello went on to attain another title crown with the Spaniards.

Before, the FA used to understand all about the early season pressures and injuries and left the top-flight clubs free in the opening of a new campaign. However, since 2001 the FA lost its plot and started to stage a friendly in August.

The last international, against the Czech Republic last week, was the seventh to be played at this particular time of the season. The results attained in August are:

2001: England vs Holland 0-2
(White Hart Lane, London)
2003: England vs Croatia 3-1
Beckham pen, Owen, Lampard
(Portman Road, Ipswich)
2004: England vs Ukraine 3-0
Beckham, Owen, Wright-Phillips
(St James' Park, Newcastle)
2005: Denmark vs England 4-1
Rooney
(in Copenhagen)
2006: England vs Greece 4-0
Terry, Lampard, Crouch 2
(Old Trafford, Manchester)
2007: England vs Germany 1-2
Lampard
(Wembley, London)
2008: England vs Czech Rep. 2-2
Brown, J. Cole
(Wembley, London)

Capello's five

Capello's debut on the England bench came on February 6 of this year in the 2-1 friendly win over Switzerland at Wembley. Captained by Steve Gerrard on the occasion, England won thanks to goals from Jermaine Jenas and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

In March, England travelled to France for Capello's first away encounter and went down 0-1 in Paris.

In this friendly, David Beckham celebrated his 100th appearance for the country (captain: Rio Ferdinand).

In May, England returned to Wembley with a trial against the US that ended in a 2-0 triumph with goals from John Terry (captain) and Gerrard.

At the start of June, England flew to Port of Spain and trounced Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 (Defoe 2, Barry). England were captained by Beckham and in the second half Barry took the armband to become the fifth different skipper in four England outings.

Finally, Capello decided that Terry should be his captain.

In the last outing against the Czechs, the English saved their faces in the last minute following a goal by Joe Cole. The match ended in a 2-2 draw with Wes Brown scoring his first ever goal for England.