Shawn Wright-Phillips, last night, saved Fabio Capello's blushes as he sent England to a 2-1 victory over Switzerland in a game which went some way to repairing the hurt caused by England's exit in Euro 2008 qualifying.
Capello looked concerned with only half an hour gone and the "boo boys" had already got started. The particularly fickle section of the crowd involved in this were probably the same type of people that got Sam Allardyce kicked out of Newcastle a few weeks ago. Lucky then, that Joe Cole quickly silenced them with first a good run and a decent effort, followed by a dazzling run and a pull-back from the by-line for Jermaine Jenas to tap in. Not the best half from England but it was OK and they were in front, that, surely is the most important thing. After all, Italy were nowhere near the best team at the world cup, but they managed to win it. They should have been knocked out by Australia of all teams.
The second half started much better, with some slick passing moves mostly created by Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole. However, when Eren Derdiyok flashed a shot past David James. Lucky the two didn't let that faze them and they continued their good play and finally, after a long goal kick, knocked down by substitute Peter Crouch, followed by Wayne Rooney into Gerrard's path, who then slotted across the box for the other substitute Wright-Phillips for the second tap in of the game. A game in which Rooney had his moments, and David Bentley did well, England showed they have already progressed under Capello and have something to build on and now, instead of going backwards as under Steve McClaren from a confident start against Greece, we need to take this forward, only then will we have a good chance of not only qualifying for, but winning the World Cup in 2010.
Speaking with some fans who attended the game last night, the message was mixed in terms of the performance, but all agreed that with a win, it lays down the foundations, and it is now up to the players and the manager to build upon them.
Fabio Capello said via an interpreter "We played some good football in places and created a lot of goal scoring chances which unfortunately we didn't take and defensively we have played solidly. The last ten minutes again we didn't play football as we were concerned about the result."
Capello has yet to speak English to the media but insists that the players have no problem understanding him. He added "I speak English to my players, I know my football terms and I can speak the football I know to them" and joked that her doesn't trust the media enough to speak to them in English. He seems to think they might try to twist his words. As if!
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