We keep our feet on the floor
Sunday, 13 September, 2009
Fabio Capello is not getting carried away with talk of World Cup glory.
But he admits he would relish the prospect of an England v Italy World Cup Final.
It only took one day after our outstanding 5-1 victory over Croatia for the first journalist to ask if England can be crowned world champions and it’s a question Capello is likely to face many, many times over the next nine months.
He did his best to avoid adding to the hype. And although the Three Lions Manager has the right to feel content after his side made it eight qualifying victories in a row to reach South Africa 2010, as you’ve probably gathered, he’s not the kind of man to get carried away.
"I and the players keep our feet on the floor, always,” he insisted. “It's a long way to the Final and we have to go step, forget what we won before. We won eight games but it's nothing, the next game is always the most important.
“But of course, yes, I enjoyed the performance against Croatia. The first 20 minutes were fantastic, the pressure, the quality of the players and passing, pressing, winning back the ball - everything that we practised during the ten days that we stayed together I saw it on the pitch. This is very important for me.
“But I was not surprised. I was asked the day before about what I saw in the eyes of the players. I said that I was worried before Slovenia but before Croatia the face of the players was really, really good. We were focused."
With England guaranteed a place in the Finals in South Africa there is bound to be talk now of whether Capello’s side can go on and lift the trophy for the first time since 1966. And talk, of course, of how an Italian would feel leading out the Three Lions against world champions Italy if necessary - maybe in the Final!
“I hope it will be,” smiled Capello before waving away the suggestion he would feel split loyalties.
“Now I have the England shirt,” he insisted. “I work here now.
"It was never one of my objectives to be Italian team manager. My dream was to be here. I always said I didn't want to be Italian manager. This is the big challenge of my career.
"Why? Because I never understood why it was impossible to do something here. Because the players are good, the stadiums, the fans. I always liked it, the spirit that you can breathe here."
England have certainly made stunning progress since Capello took over the reins in 2008 but he feels there is far more progress to be made before the opening games in South Africa. Interestingly when asked how many times England have played the way he wants them to play since he took charge it wasn’t a long list.
“In Croatia we played all the game very well. Also this week against them at Wembley. And Germany we played well and the second half against Belarus.”
England supporters across the globe hope that list will be a lot longer by Sunday 11 June when the World Cup Final is played in Johannesburg and despite his call for everyone to keep their feet on the floor Capello certainly cannot be accused of a lack of ambition.
When asked what he would regard as success in next year’s tournament he took only a split second to answer.
“To arrive in the Final. To play the Final,” he said.
Are you sure you don’t mean to ‘win the Final’, one journalist countered.
“No, to play,” Capello responded before looking up, smiling and adding “For now...”
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