England boss Fabio Capello is determined to keep his side’s “feet on the floor” after they qualified for the World Cup with a 100% record.
England beat Croatia 5-1 to book their place in South Africa and make it eight wins from eight qualifying matches.
“We are a good team, we are playing well, but we must keep our feet on the floor,” said Capello.
“We made the first step but we must work hard because to win the World Cup would be a really strong moment.”
Having reached next summer’s finals, Capello’s team will be hoping to match the exploits of England’s women, who face Germany in the European Championship final on Thursday.
England have historically underachieved in major tournaments since winning the World Cup in 1966, but Capello believes a change in the players’ psychology has led to improved performances.
“The confidence has improved a lot,” said Capello.
“When I became England manager I was sure the players were really good but I didn’t understand why certain players were not the same with the national team as they were with their clubs.”
The breakthrough moment for England, according to Capello, came in Zagreb one year ago when Theo Walcott hit a hat-trick as England thrashed Croatia 4-1 in their World Cup qualifying tie.
“They changed their psychology completely,” he said.
“The first step was when we won against Croatia, the confidence came after that.
“We always played well away from home, the problem was Wembley.”
Capello also admitted he would give his squad players a chance to impress in the run up to the World Cup as he makes contingency plans for injuries.
“I hope we can choose the best players, but it is possible someone will have an injury,” he said.
“I hope they will be fit for the World Cup but I think we will have to prepare another option and during the friendly games I will prepare this option,” he said.
Having banned talk of South Africa ahead of Wednesday night’s game against Croatia, Capello finally began to outline some of his plans for next summer.
The former Juventus and AC Milan boss revealed he hopes to help his players deal with the effects of playing at altitude by basing their training on high ground.
And, on the subject of the ‘wives and girlfriends’ or ‘WAGs’, which overshadowed Sven Goran Erikkson’s spell in charge of England during the World Cup campaign in Germany 2006, Capello was philosophical.
“The players need to meet their wives and girlfriends, but it will be for one day after each game,” he said.
“We are in South Africa to play, not holiday.”
Former England midfielder Sir Trevor Brooking expects the national team to improve further with players returning from injury.
“The squad’s got better. Players like Rio Ferdinand, Theo Walcott and Stewart Downing will all come back,” he said.
England could also welcome back Chelsea’s Joe Cole and Manchester United’s Owen Hargreaves before next summer, with both midfielders currently recovering from long-term knee injuries.
And Brooking, now the Football Association’s director of football development, believes England are also well equipped in attack, with Wayne Rooney the top scorer in European qualification and Jermain Defoe staking a claim to take Emile Heskey’s place.
“There was lot of debate about whether Jermain Defoe would start against Croatia,” Brooking told BBC 5 live.
“And in Peter Crouch and Carlton Cole we have got some quite good attacking options now.
“If you look at our goal scoring record it is as good as anyone, that is something we haven’t done in the big tournaments or even qualifying before.”
Meanwhile, England are expected to be rewarded for their 100% qualification with a top seeding in the World Cup group draw in Cape Town on 4 December.
As hosts, South Africa are guaranteed top seeding with the other seven set to be allocated through a system that has tended to include both results from previous tournaments, as well as taking into account current Fifa rankings.
England have reached the last two World Cup quarter-finals and are ranked seventh in the latest Fifa list.
Brazil and Spain will also get a top seeding among the sides that have already qualified, while Italy, Germany, Argentina and France – should they qualify – would also be likely to be seeded.
There is expected to be thousands of England fans making the journey to South Africa and, as of 1 September, more than 45,000 tickets had been sold to residents from the United Kingdom, with only the host nation and the United States having sold more.
Meanwhile, England fans have been warned to be on their guard against ticket scams when booking trips to next year’s finals.
Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) spokesman Sean Tipton said: “We’re saying that when you book, you should do so with a company authorised by Fifa.
“In the past, we have had instances of people booking trips for major sporting events and then finding that their tickets did not materialise.”
The Scottish FA wants to hear George Burley’s plans for the development of the national team before his future as manager is decided.
Burley, who wants to stay on, will meet his employers next week having failed to reach the World Cup play-offs.
“I feel that this a time for measured and considered reflection,” said SFA chief executive Gordon Smith.
“I always insisted that we would review matters once we knew whether we had qualified or not.”
Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to the Netherlands meant Scotland finished third in Group Nine, with just 10 points from eight games.
“Like every Scottish football fan, I am terribly disappointed that we have not made it to the World Cup,” said Smith.
“We so desperately wanted to be there and it just hasn’t worked out for us. The fans in this campaign have been brilliant and it is a shame for them – and for football – that they won’t now get the chance to go with their team to South Africa.
“However, the table doesn’t lie and we didn’t get enough points to make it to the play-offs.
“That being said, there are a lot of positives to be taken from the way the team played in the last couple of games. Hopefully, this will have an effect on those players who will be representing us in forthcoming campaigns.
“As for the future, there will be discussions with George Burley next week to review the way the campaign has gone.
“Our next competitive match is in September 2010, so there is no need to make any statement regarding George Burley’s future until we have had a discussion with him on how he regards the events of the last year and what his plans are, going forward, for the development of the Scottish team.
“Everyone wants to see us qualify for major championships. We have a year to go before we set out on the road to Poland and Ukraine. We will do everything we can to make sure that campaign is a successful one.”
Burley has overseen just 12 games for Scotland and despite widespread media criticism remains keen to stay at the helm.
“I am manager of Scotland and proud of it,” he said after Wednesday’s Hampden loss. “I want to continue as manager of Scotland, of course I do.
“Everybody makes mistakes, but you saw passion, commitment and quality there and that’s something to build on.
“I do my job to the best of my ability, I have been national manager for a year and a half, that’s not long and I’m looking forward to more games to come.”
Striker Kenny Miller, who missed a couple of chances to score against the Dutch, admitted that Scotland have had a poor campaign but insisted that the display against the Dutch proved that Burley had the players’ support.
“At the end of the day, he has not done enough, same as us players – we have not done enough because we have not qualified for that second spot for the play-offs,” said Rangers striker Miller.
“But, in terms of the manager having the backing of the players, there is no doubt when you see that level of performance.
“I thought we played very, very well, all that was lacking was a goal.
“I’ve hit the bar, I feel like I’m putting one into the empty net and the keeper has got up and saved it. The second half, I’ve had chances and I thought we played very well.
“But we can’t keep relying on these last games all the time to perform. The damage was done two or three games before.
“Unfortunately, we never got to that level against Macedonia away and Norway in both games. You can’t just lift yourself to play the good teams.”
Scotland captain Darren Fletcher thought it was the players and not the manager who should take the blame.
“We did not do the manager justice in this campaign,” said the Manchester United midfielder.
“He has taken loads of criticism. Even before a ball was kicked, there was criticism.
“He has had a long, tough campaign, but he has gained a lot of respect from the lads and has not let if affect him.
“He has been been bright, he has been vibrant, he has taken the criticism and shielded the lads.
“And you have seen, especially in the last two games, the boys have been desperate to do well for him.
“But that needs to be from the start and hopefully, under George, we can start the Euros well and give ourselves a good shot at qualifying.”
Rafael Nadal will come face-to-face with swashbuckling Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in a quarter-final contest at the U.S. Open on Friday which is likely to turn into a “battle of the forehands.”
The Spaniard owns one of the most lethal forehands seen in tennis but Gonzalez has also been gifted with an equally thunderous delivery and has the ability to rattle the third seed — having won three of their nine meetings to date.
It is a danger Nadal is well aware of.
“He played unbelievable all match against (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga. Very good tennis, unbelievable forehands, so I know him very well,” said Nadal referring to Gonzalez’s fourth round victory.
“He knows me very well. I have to play aggressive. If he gets control of the point with his forehand, it’s almost impossible beat him. So I have to play aggressive, and make him uncomfortable in every shot.”
However, the biggest threat to Nadal’s hopes of taking a step closer to his first Flushing Meadows title could be the heavy storms forecast for Thursday evening.
After being blessed with 10 days of dry weather, the Open schedule could be thrown into disarray in the closing stages for the second year running. Last year the men’s final spilled over to the third Monday of the championships.
Before the Nadal-Gonzalez match can take center stage in the night session, 20-year-olds, sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro and Croatian Marin Cilic, will be looking to reach the semis here for the first time when face off in the afternoon.
Derek Jeter bounded out of the dugout and peered up at the rain-soaked stands, surprised to see so many people on such a miserable night.
The conditions were dreadful, sure. His record-setting swing was sublime.
Jeter broke the New York Yankees’ hit record held by Lou Gehrig for more than seven decades when he singled to right in the third inning Friday night. His opposite-field grounder against Baltimore gave Jeter 2,722 hits, one more than Gehrig, whose Hall of Fame career was cut short by illness in 1939.
“Being a former captain and what he stood for, when you mention his name to any baseball fan around the country it means a lot,” Jeter said. “I think passing him makes it stand out that much more.”
Now, No. 2 in Yankees pinstripes is number one in the record book for baseball’s most storied franchise.
“The whole experience has been overwhelming,” Jeter said. “This is more than I could’ve imagined.”
His record-breaking hit was remarkably similar to the one that tied Gehrig on Wednesday night, a sharp grounder inside the first-base line. After this one, Yankees players poured out of the dugout and engulfed Jeter at first base with hugs and pats on the back.
“I didn’t know that they were going to do that, so that sort of caught me off-guard,” Jeter said. “It’s a special moment for me, it’s a special moment for the organization. To get an opportunity to share it with my teammates was a lot of fun.”
Jeter spread his arms wide after rounding first base and gave an emphatic clap as he headed back to the bag.
Rain-drenched fans, many wearing bright ponchos, roared during an ovation that lasted about 3 minutes. Jeter twice waved his helmet to the crowd of 46,771 — just as he did after tying the record. Fans chanted his name and the ball was taken out of play as a souvenir.
“For those who say today’s game can’t produce legendary players, I have two words: Derek Jeter. Game in and game out he just produces,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. “As historic and significant as becoming the Yankees’ all-time hit leader is, the accomplishment is all the more impressive because Derek is one of the finest young men playing the game today.
“That combination of character and athletic ability is something he shares with the previous record holder, Lou Gehrig,” the statement said.
When his grounder skimmed past diving first baseman Luke Scott, Jeter’s parents raised their arms in excitement. Joining them in an upstairs box filled with family and friends were his sister and steady girlfriend, actress Minka Kelly.
The captain kept right on going, too, with an RBI single in the fourth. He left the game after a 67-minute rain delay in the top of the seventh when manager Joe Girardi pulled most of his starters with the Yankees trailing by six runs. Baltimore went on to a 10-4 victory.
“I didn’t expect that many people to be out there after the rain delay considering how hard it was raining when we started the game,” Jeter said. “But the fans were incredible. It says a lot about how they feel about their team and more importantly how they feel about the history of their team. I appreciate each and every one that was there.”
The 35-year-old Jeter tied Gehrig’s mark Wednesday night, snapping an 0-for-12 slump with three hits against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees were off Thursday, and Jeter resumed his pursuit Friday at a soggy Yankee Stadium.
The start was delayed 87 minutes by heavy rain. With cameras flashing all around the stadium on every pitch, Jeter struck out swinging against rookie Chris Tillman in the first inning.
By the third, the rain had tapered off — and Jeter came through.
“I’m happy I was able to do it quickly,” he said.
It was Jeter’s 268th hit against Baltimore, his most against any opponent.
Gehrig’s final hit came on April 29, 1939, a single against the Washington Senators. The Iron Horse had held the club record since Sept. 6, 1937, when he passed Babe Ruth.
Gehrig’s career ended suddenly in 1939. Two years later, he died at 37 from the disease that would later bear his name.
Jeter got his first hit on May 30, 1995, at Seattle and set the Yankees mark with 14 seasons of splendid consistency. His two singles Friday night gave him 1,363 hits at home and 1,360 on the road.
“He’s like a machine. He’s like a robot. And that’s what it takes to reach goals and win world championships,” teammate Alex Rodriguez said. “I don’t think he’s ever played any better than he’s playing right now.”
We’re a country that has the collective attention span of Pacman Jones in da scrip club. So why we can’t sit still and appreciate Sanya Richards for the 49 seconds it takes her to make one lap around the track is a mystery to me.
On a Friday when most Americans were planning an early exit from work to get a head start on the Monday observance of Labor Day, Richards was dazzling a crowd in Belgium with her most dominating performance of 2009. After crossing the finish line in a world leading 48.83 seconds in the 400-meter dash, nearly two seconds faster than her nearest competitor, Richards earned herself a share of the million dollar Golden League jackpot by remaining undefeated this season.
If you know who she is, chances are it is because her fateful collapse in the 2008 Olympic Games is still fresh in your mind or you may know her as the fiancée of New York Giants defensive back Aaron Ross.
Unless you are a fan of the sport of track and field then Sanya Richards is as foreign to you as the metric system.
All of this is truly sad when you consider that a sports obsessed nation doesn’t even know the face of its most dominating athlete.
There was once a time when the sport of track was held in high regards in the United States. Breaking the 4-minute barrier in the mile was as big a landmark as putting a man on the moon.
Now, we get more highlights of maniacs feverishly shoveling hot dogs into their pie holes on SportsCenter than we do recaps of the world of track. And to think they call themselves the “worldwide leader”. Laughable!
Other than Usain Bolt, the majority of U.S. sports fans couldn’t pick out another star of track and field even if Blanka Vlasic was standing next to Megan Fox and Anna Paquin.
Sanya Richards has no equal in her event, nor does she even have another athlete on par with her in the United States. She is the most dominant quarter miler in the history of the event. The Jamaican born sprinter became a U.S. citizen at the age of 12 before going on to attend college in Austin, Texas. No woman has eclipsed the 50-second barrier more often than she has. The bad news for the rest of the field is that Richards is only 24-years old and is getting progressively faster. The 47.60 second world record seems all but gone in the coming years.
Her story has all the elements we love to pine over in our splashy headlines. She is the Tiger Woods of her event, having been ranked the top sprinter in the 400 for the past four years yet until 2009 she did not have a world title. Think the dominance of Woods with the sentimental factor of Phil Mickelson splashed in. In the track world, winning a world title or Olympic gold is the equivalent of winning every major in golf. Except in her case, the world championships come around but once every two years and the Olympics just once every four.
Not unlike Tom Brady, she saw her perfect season come to a crashing conclusion in 2008. Richards was less than 100-meters from Olympic gold and simply ran out of steam in Beijing. With the world watching, she suffered the lowest moment of her career.
The word was out that Sanya just couldn’t step up to the challenge when the big meets rolled around. So how did she respond? The same way Kobe Bryant did after being embarrassed on the world’s biggest stage. Richards won a gold in Beijing as a member of the 4X400 meter relay team. Her performance was something that is usually only scripted for the silver screen. Richards took the baton as the U.S. anchor and ran down the Russian team in the final 100-meters to give her teammates and an entire nation a chance to hear the anthem play with the stars and stripes hoisted above her head.
Over the next year, Richards trained to ensure she would never suffer a loss like the one in Beijing. Just like Kobe, Sanya rededicated herself and came out as the world champion in 2009. Next up is London in 2012 for the Olympic gold in the open 400 that eludes her and a potential date with destiny as her closest competitor, England’s own Christine Ohuruogu, awaits setting the stage for a drama better than the six months of lamenting over a 40-year old quarterback with retirement resentment.
Richards might not have the glamor and fame of a Serena Williams, but she’s already reached the pinnacle of her sport and doesn’t appear to be willing to concede that throne anytime soon. Unlike Williams, Sanya stands in a league of her own, alone at the top with the rest of the world fighting over the right to be second best.
While Sanya can hardly make it from the front desk to her hotel room in any number of European countries without being mobbed by fans, she is relatively anonymous in America. If she were jogging next to you in the park on a Saturday morning, you’d most likely turn up your iPod as she zooms by you like you were running in concrete Nikes. You’re left wondering who that fast woman was for all of 10-seconds before returning to your run.
She runs with a bullet dangling from the end of her necklace. With each bounce of the chain, she’s reminded of the expression her mother bestowed upon her in her youth. An expression associated with a fictional character in American folklore. Sanya Richards is indeed faster than a speeding bullet. So fast, in fact, that she seems to run in and out of our collective consciousness in a blur.
From brolly to Bolly: what a difference a good manager makes. As Fabio Capello masterminded the destruction of Croatia, as the champagne corks popped and a jubilant Wembley let loose its delight at reaching the World Cup, the memory of Steve McClaren clutching his umbrella as Slaven Bilic’s side won here two years ago was consigned to history.
The future looks promising indeed under Capello, who has invigorated a group of players that grew demoralised under McClaren’s lacklustre leadership.
How Wembley loved it, as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard both scored twice, Wayne Rooney added another and the outstanding Aaron Lennon led Croatia’s defenders a merry dance.
How the England football family revelled in it, former captains like Bryan Robson and Alan Shearer standing to salute the latest generation charged with ending 44 years of hurt. How the Football Association money men clapped their hands in glee; qualification for a tournament is usually estimated to be worth £100 million to English football. Even the Government will benefit from an additional £1 billion of revenue gushing into the dried-up river of the economy. TV show-rooms and off-licences can expect a bumper summer.
Capello’s impact is phenomenal. The Italian has got England footballers believing again, has sent fans racing to assorted websites snapping up tickets for South Africa. Before kick-off, 45,000 World Cup tickets had been sold to residents of the UK, mainly English, and that number could now double after England qualified in such style.
Inevitably, the country will jettison all sense of perspective, ignoring the quality of Spain, Brazil, Germany and Holland as punters rush to bookmakers to place substantial wedges on England returning from Johannesburg with the trophy that most fixates the nation.
Fortunately, as all around him people were losing their head, Capello kept his. He has been to a World Cup before, the 1974 affair in Germany, and knows the difficulties. He has seen the flaws in his improving England side that still need eradicating, the defensive slips by Glen Johnson and Robert Green that allowed Croatia their late consolation through Eduardo.
The prince of pragmatism, Capello will not get carried away. An instructive cameo was staged after the final whistle: John Terry marched across to celebrate with Capello, stuck out a hand and then moved to give his manager an English-style bear-hug. The Italian was having none of it. Capello is Terry’s manager, not his mate.
And that is why he has such an effect on them. McClaren tried to be chummy. Capello keeps his distance, proving utterly ruthless with those who fail to take their opportunity like Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joleon Lescott and Carlton Cole, all disappointing against Slovenia on Saturday, all failing to make even the bench last night.
The determination of Capello’s chosen ones was inescapable, starting in the tunnel where they stared ahead, utterly focused, aware that the eyes of the nation were upon them. Even Capello, lining up behind them, instinctively stretched his leg muscles before stepping out in a stadium where he once scored for Italy.
Bilic proffered the hand of peace, following their disagreement in the build-up, which Capello took coldly and briefly, cutting short Bilic’s attempt at conversation. England’s manager wanted his players’ football to do the talking.
They did not let him down. Fast out of the traps, pressing hard and high up the field, Lennon, Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney and Emile Heskey tore into Bilic’s men. The tempo was good, the
4-2-3-1 tactics spot-on. Croatia were forced on the back-foot, pummelled by the combinations put together by hungry hosts brimming with quick footwork and fluid movement.
Croatia have choked on English vapour trails before in this qualifying campaign, on the chaos caused by the dashing raider Theo Walcott in Zagreb. Here it was Lennon, startling Croatia’s defence with a turn of pace that the watching Usain Bolt must have admired.
The Tottenham attacker got the party started early, speeding past Nikola Pokrivac and gliding past Josip Simunic, who inexplicably tripped him. Penalty. No question. No need for Uefa intervention. And no chance of Vedran Runje saving, Lampard placing the ball expertly into the net.
England were rampant. Gareth Barry, embodying England’s ebullience, let fly from 25 yards, denied only by Runje. Wembley roared its approval, thrilling to the adventure of the men in white, admiring the intelligent way Capello’s players kept the team shape. Bewitched by England’s football, the fans even forgot to boo Eduardo. Briefly.
One became two after 18 minutes via a direct goal that showed England have not lost their “Englishness’’ under Capello whatever Bilic might believe. Two Merseysiders, Rooney and Gerrard, linked up effortlessly in midfield, men from the same city on the same wavelength, the Liverpool captain soon sweeping the ball wide to Lennon.
This time, the winger varied his approach, taking two touches before lifting in a cross which Gerrard headed firmly home. As Wembley celebrated, there continued to be so much to admire in Lennon’s contribution, notably the way he darted back to help out Johnson, dispossessing Daniel Pranjic, frustrating Croatia.
The scoreboard could have carried a tennis score by the break. Runje, the excellent Lens keeper, saved Lampard’s fizzing 30-yard free-kick, parried shots from Lennon and Heskey before diving at Heskey’s feet. No matter.
England went through the gears again after the break. Johnson ran on to Gerrard’s firm pass, eluded Pranjic and cut the ball back for Lampard to score with a measured header. England were heading to South Africa in every sense, Gerrard nodding in Rooney’s hoisted cut-back.
Although Eduardo exploited hesitancy in England’s defence, a horrendous
mis-kick from Runje gifted Rooney a chance he drilled home. Finally Capello’s granite features broke into a smile. First mission accomplished. He will demand much more.
