Capello: I'm proud of my team
Saturday, 10 October, 2009
Manager unhappy with result, but not performance.
Chris Hatherall
Fabio Capello insists he is not unhappy with England’s performance during a 1-0 defeat in Ukraine but is disappointed with the way goalkeeper Robert Green was sent off after only 13 minutes.
Green was dismissed for bringing down Artem Milevskiy after Rio Ferdinand allowed a long ball to reach the England penalty area early in the first half. But Capello believes referee Damor Skomina did not see the incident clearly.
Capello said: “I’m happy because we played the second half very well.
"Playing against 11 is not easy away with 10 men. We played for 90 minutes well, but one silly mistake in the first half. I'm proud of my team because in the second half we played very well and created chances right until the final minute.
“But when the referee decided the red card for Green, that was a big mistake. He was not too close to the moment of the foul.
“He gave a red card for Rio, he thought it was Rio who made the foul. But he was running and the keeper was on the ground diving. This is a big difference. I saw the fourth referee speak with the referee and decide to change the decision. Rio was two metres behind the ball.”
Andriy Shevchenko missed the penalty, firing it against a post with substitute keeper David James in goal. But Ukraine sealed victory after 29 minutes when Sergiy Nazarenko's shot hit Ashley Cole and ended up in the net.
“They press a lot the ball, they win back the ball and when they shoot it had a big deflection,” added Capello.