Last week’s highly-anticipated Milan-Juventus Coppa Italia semi-final first leg at the San Siro was largely overshadowed by Fabio Capello’s sensational break-up with the English FA.
The 65-year-old Capello left the job he had been after for so many years after disagreeing with the FA hierarchy’s decision to strip Chelsea captain John Terry off the national team’s captaincy.
Terry is awaiting trial for racially abusing Queen’s Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand in a Premier League match played last October.
The Chelsea centre-back has always denied the accusations.
Capello may have a point in arguing that no-one should be punished by a sporting authority before a court had reached a verdict. However, he should have never reacted in the way he did by openly declaring his disagreement with the FA in an interview with Italy’s state broadcaster RAI.
It is a known fact that the much-travelled Capello, whose £6 million-a-year contract at Soho Square was going to expire in five months’ time, is a man of character who does not like having his authority undermined by others.
In reality, Capello may have left because he believed that he was overlooked in the Terry case and that he could not work in harmony with the FA bosses any longer.
In December 2007, Capello was hired by the FA with the assignment of putting an end to England’s trophy drought.
The Three Lions had last tasted victory in the World Cup of 1966 which they hosted.
After playing flawless football in the qualifiers, England performed badly in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa mainly because Capello mishandled the goalkeeper situation and the players were also reportedly unhappy with his strict approach and adherence to a 4-4-2 playing module.
Strangely, the FA stood by the Italian mentor and gave him the opportunity to lead England through the 2012 Euro Cham-pionship campaign.
Although England failed to shine in the qualifiers, they still succeeded in staying undefeated in Group G, which also comprised the less fashionable Montenegro, Switzerland, Wales and Bulgaria teams.
England will play France, Sweden and Ukraine in Group D in the finals. With or without Capello in charge, they are not bracketed among the favourites in a tour-nament that will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine between June 8 and July 1.
Overall, England won 28 times, drew eight and lost six matches with Capello around.
As things evolved last week, it seems that Capello may have decided to jump the England bandwagon before enduring a tough time in the 2012 European Cham-pionship.
For sure, had England stood even a better chance to taste glory this summer, Capello would not have left his job because he has a knack for winning titles.
He had critics everywhere he coached, be it Milan, Real Madrid, Roma or Juventus. However, he never threw in the towel the way he did last week.
The reasons for Capello walking out of the England job – touted by many pundits to be one of the toughest coaching jobs in circulation – are more profound than what the FA and the coach himself wants us to believe.
Now, England’s quest for a first title in the European Cham-pionship goes on as Capello’s CV remains largely untarnished even though we cannot speak of his success story with the England national team.
Serie A statistics
1st away win for newcomers Novara as they handed Inter their fourth home defeat of the season. Prior to Sunday, Novara had collected only two draws from their first 10 away fixtures. Their most recent win before beating Inter was the 2-1 home success over Parma way back in November.
2 sides have so far managed to leave Udinese’s Friuli Stadium undefeated. On Saturday, Milan came from behind to inflict the first home defeat of the term on the northeasterners. This was Milan’s first away success since beating Novara 3-0 on the 19th day. Napoli revived their chances of making a top-three finish thanks to a 2-0 home win over Chievo. This was Napoli’s first win after four draws and one defeat.
3 positive results in a row have enabled Cagliari to detach themselves from the drop zone. On Saturday, they overcame Palermo at the Sant’ Elia Stadium to record their second successive home win, following their 4-2 win over Roma. Atalanta-Lecce was the only goalless draw of the day.
5 penalties were awarded by Serie A referees in the last programme. Vin-cenzo Iaquinta (Cesena), Abel Hernandez (Palermo), Emanuele Calaiò (Siena), Francesco Lodi (Catania) and Edinson Cavani (Napoli) all scored from the spot. Of the 76 penalties taken so far, 64 were scored. Meanwhile, Abdoulay Konko (Lazio) and Ivan Radovanovic (Novara) received marching orders.
19 goals were scored on the 23rd day (Parma-Fiorentina and Bologna-Juventus were postponed due to bad weather 13 coming from the hosts and the remaining six from the visitors, who managed two wins. Pablo Barrientos, of Catania, grabbed the only brace of the programme of matches. Antonio Di Natale is the leading marksman with 17 goals.