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Post by Macmoish on Jun 17, 2010 6:34:13 GMT
Should have picked meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Guardian Sol Campbell angry he was not picked for World Cup• Defender criticises Fabio Capello's choices • 'Half-fit players' should not have been preferred Sol Campbell has criticised Fabio Capello for taking 'half-fit' players to South Africa instead of him. "Surely you pick people in the groove and I was," Campbell said. "Instead Capello picked a couple of half-fit players. "I can understand if Capello was thinking 'This guy is for England's past' but then he went for a couple of players who had retired from international football. "Not only that, Capello has gone for one centre-half [Jamie Carragher] who didn't have a very good season and another [Matthew Upson] who just missed out on relegation. It's crazy. "I was really hurt to be overlooked. Don't you think I should be in? I do. For sure." www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/17/sol-campbell-fabio-capello-england
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Post by Macmoish on Jun 17, 2010 6:36:26 GMT
Guardian
World Cup 2010: Diego Maradona rips into Pelé and Michel Platini• Former greats slated as Argentina coach speaks his mind • Maradona also attacks World Cup match ball The Argentina coach Diego Maradona took a swipe at fellow greats Pelé and Michel Platini and also criticised the World Cup match ball at a press conference in South Africa. Speaking before Thursday's Group B match with South Korea in Johannesburg, Maradona rounded on Pelé, who has been quoted as saying that Maradona took the Argentina job only because he needed the money. He said that Pelé should "go back to the museum" and claimed that Platini, the Uefa president, thinks he "is better than all the rest". Maradona also criticised Platini over reported negative comments by the Frenchman about the 1986 World Cup winner's coaching ability: "Platini? I'm not surprised, I've always had a very distant relationship with him, it's always just hello and goodbye, nothing more than that. "We all know how the French are, and Platini is French, and he believes he is better than rest." The Jabulani ball also came under Maradona's scrutiny after questions about the dearth of goals and lack of excitement in the World Cup so far. "I'm having a wonderful time, to me a World Cup is something that's quite amazing. I'm not worried by the fact there aren't many goals, I'm sure there will be goals, I'm sure the players will see to that," he said . "Of course in the first matches you are more careful, perhaps more careful than you should be. "And, of course, there's the ball. I don't want to go into the ball again because everyone is talking about it, but it is important and it does play a part and I would ask Pelé and Platini to go out there and play with the ball and take a closer look at it to see if it's a good one or bad one, and to stop talking rubbish about me." www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/16/diego-maradona-argentina-pele-platini
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Post by Macmoish on Jun 17, 2010 6:37:04 GMT
Guardian World Cup 2010: Fabio Capello hits back at Franz Beckenbauer's disdain• Coach says critic of England's 'kick and rush' lacks respect • Wayne Rooney: 'It would be nice to beat Germany' (8)Tweet this (21)Dominic Fifield in Rustenburg guardian.co.uk, Fabio Capello has accused Franz Beckenbauer of a lack of respect for claiming England had regressed into a "kick and rush" style, with the German's comments intensifying the bitter football rivalry between the two countries. Beckenbauer, a World Cup winner with West Germany as captain in 1974 and coach in 1990, suggested this week that England had "gone backwards into the bad old times", a criticism that has prompted Wayne Rooney to hope for the chance to defeat Joachim Löw's side in South Africa. Capello was just as unimpressed with the 64-year-old's assessment of England's play during the opening Group C game against the USA. "I was surprised to hear [the comments]," the Italian said. "Always, when you speak about someone, you have to respect their team. I respect his team and he needs to speak about them. But it's easy to speak about teams when you stay in the stands. You have to see the match [in the flesh]. My players could not play the style they like [against the USA] because the pressure was really strong. "We had to play long balls to go forward to win. But in the second half we played very well. We didn't play long ball but a lot of passes and had a lot of possession. We created three clear chances to score. So I don't understand what Beckenbauer is saying. It was easier for Germany to play Australia, who played offside with the line of their back four, and it was too easy for them to get to goal. There was probably a penalty for Australia which would have made it 2-1 and they had a player sent off. So it could have been different." Rooney's reaction to the comments was just as prickly. Asked whether he was keen to face Löw's side in the knockout phase of the competition – and potentially in the last 16 – the England striker nodded. When asked why, the striker replied without a hint of humour: "Because it would be nice to beat them. "Beckenbauer can say what he wants and think what he wants – we're not listening. But we certainly don't play kick and run. And, with any tournament, it is how you finish, not how you start, that counts. If you look at the Italians, four years ago they won the tournament and, in the group stage, they had been on the brink of going out." England, and Rooney, will take heart from that after their opening 1-1 draw in Rustenburg as they attempt to generate more momentum against Algeria in Cape Town on Friday. Rooney was prolific throughout the qualification campaign but has mustered only one international goal in the past year. Perhaps more pertinently, he has not scored at all since injuring his ankle in Manchester United's Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat at Bayern Munich at the end of March. That ligament damage interrupted his rhythm after his most prolific season in senior football. Though he arrived at the World Cup relatively fresh, there has been a rustiness to his recent displays. "I had a season with United, wasn't fit [after the initial ankle injury] and played when I probably shouldn't have," he admitted. "When you get injured, you lose your match sharpness. It was difficult to play as well as I wanted to but I'm feeling good now. I feel I have reached maximum fitness. "I'm focused on England now. This is a great opportunity for this team, and for me to prove myself at world level. If I didn't do that, I'd be disappointed. There were moments when I did some good things against the USA, and moments when I would have liked to get on the ball more but I never. There were glimpses. But personally I know I can play better and I hope to put that right." England travel to Cape Town on Thursday intent upon sparking their challenge and imposing their qualities in Group C. "The team want to take the tournament by the scruff of the neck," added Rooney. "We've got a chance now to put things right and beat Algeria and I'm pretty confident we'll do that. I believe we will win on Friday and qualify from this group. We will be fine. If I am being honest, I think we will win our last two games and end up being top of the group. I don't think there will be any problems about that." www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/16/world-cup-2010-fabio-capello-franz-beckenbauer
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Post by Macmoish on Jun 17, 2010 6:41:36 GMT
Independent
Now Capello kicks out at 'the worst ball I've seen in my life'
By Ian Herbert in PhokengFabio Capello last night declared that the Jabulani ball used in the World Cup was "the worst ball that I have seen in my life," insisting that the trajectory is "impossible" for goalkeepers to judge. Though the manufacturer Adidas has said its ball meets conditions more stringent than Fifa's for weight and bounce, the England manager said: "It is terrible for the keepers because it is impossible to deal with the trajectory. It's good when you play short passes but when you try to switch the ball with long passes it is really difficult to understand the trajectory. But the really big problem is that sometimes this ball is just impossible to control. Impossible. And when you shoot at the goal, you can see it's difficult. When you play on the floor, it's good. When you play the ball longer, it's more difficult." Capello was also indignant about Franz Beckenbauer's suggestion that the English game has "gone backwards into the bad old times of kick and rush" on the basis of Saturday's 1-1 draw with the US, though he did not resist the German legend's claim. "When you speak about someone you have to respect his teams. It's easy to speak about teams when you stay in the stands. The players could not play the style we normally play because the pressure of the US was really, really strong and we had to play longer balls to come forward and to win," Capello said. Beckenbauer's comments have caused consternation among some in the England camp, with Wayne Rooney declaring yesterday a preference to play Germany in the next round of the World Cup because "it would be nice to beat them," he said. The German midfielder Sami Khedira said yesterday that Beckenbauer was entitled to criticise England. "It's not our job to judge how good other teams are but he is entitled to say what he wants," Khedira said, though both he and team-mate Holger Badstuber were reluctant to fuel the debate further. "We know they have excellent players who play at the highest level. Any match against England is always difficult," defender Badstuber said. Beckenbauer's views have been met with scepticism in Germany. "Everyone knows him as a bit of an entertainer as well, which makes him interesting to listen to," one commentator said. But complaints about the ball are becoming increasingly loud. Adidas has insisted that between 20 to 30 balls were sent to Wembley in February, but the terms of the FA's contract with Umbro stipulate that the squad were not even able to train with the Jabulani until the start of their pre-tournament training camp in Austria. Umbro, the FA and the England management met in March to discuss how soon England might use the ball and the agreement reached meant that the ball could not be used by Capello and his coaches until 17 May – when they reached Austria. A clause was written into that agreement, stipulating that England must revert to an Umbro ball for the first pre-World Cup friendly against Mexico at Wembley on 24 May. Both Umbro, England's sponsor, and Nike, provider of the Premier League ball, said there was no way they could have allowed the Jabulani to be used earlier in the interest of the national team. "It seems strange to question other leagues and federations on which ball they should use and question their commercial arrangements, instead of simply expecting a ball that the players are satisfied with for the World Cup," a Nike spokesman said. The Premier League said that to change the ball used, after the Jabulani became available in February, would have compromised the integrity of the league as well as violated the league's commercial deal with Nike. Capello unexpectedly went back on his declaration that the England players would only be allowed to visit their families on the day after games, yesterday, by allowing Matthew Upson to leave the training complex to visit his family in Sun City, a 20-minute drive from the squad's Royal Bafokeng complex. This was because his family will not be on the flight to Cape Town this morning. www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/now-capello-kicks-out-at-the-worst-ball-ive-seen-in-my-life-2002453.html
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