This may come as a disappointment to some fans, but to others it won’t be a shock. England will not win the 2012 European Championships. There I said it. May Fabio strike down upon me with furious anger blah blah blah.
Now my new found sense of pessimism isn’t because England drew a difficult group. Previous opening games against France have not always gone our way and Sweden just don’t do competitive defeats to England. All things considered and England will face a must win game against Ukraine to finish off the group. Don’t get me wrong there are groups I am glad to avoid (B for instance) and if England can get a positive result against France, then the test of the group matches should stand England in good stead for the knock out phase.
My concerns come once again with the England management. Yes I know I have banged on about Capello’s lack of English and coheirency and I have slated him for the way he handles some of the senior players and key situations. The Wayne Bridge story springs to mind and the subsequent fiasco surrounding the England captaincy. Now Capello’s stubbornness has seen him book England into a training base in Poland and after the Euro 2012 draw, England will play all their matches in Ukraine.
So what I hear the uneducated cry. Before we tackle logistics lets just rewind to South Africa 2010. Remember the error in choosing a training base way in advance. Facilities were not complete and in hindsight another venue would have been a better choice. England play two of their matches in Donetsk which is 930 miles away from the training camp. That is a 1860 mile round trip. The trip from Krakow to Kiev for England’s second match is only 540 miles one way. That’s still 1080 miles of travelling which you don’t need before and after what will be a tough test against Sweden. Finally England will have another 1860 mile trip to take on Ukrraine which is shaping as a must win game. Three group games and a total of 4800 miles travelling time.
That is sure to have an effect especially on the back of a long Premier League season plus players who have had European committments. When asked if he would consider changing the training base Capello said “absolutely not”. Now I would question what facilities he feels are that necessary to risk all the needless travelling his hasty planning has caused. Most players will be fit and as long as there is a place to eat, sleep and train what else really matters. What would UEFA do? Actually I can tell you. They booked accomodation in Ukraine months ago. The travelling to Poland to watch matches won’t be as much of an issue because they are not playing.
Now at this point you would think Sir Trevor Brooking or someone from the FA would tell Capello to see sense. Don’t they pay his wages? Doesn’t that make them his boss? They should be telling him to change. Somehow you don’t see that happening. You can bet your life that Germany, Holland and Spain won’t face travel like that for their group matches. That is why those three are serious contenders (provided Holland and Germany escape group B). With the tavelling involved, comb ned with a poor competitive record against Sweden and a French team with a point to prove and a partizan home Ukrainian crowd, will England even qualify.
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