Wayne Rooney is now one of the best players in the
world, according to the England manager Fabio Capello. Photograph:
Jon Super/AP
Fabio Capello does not want to say too
much more about John Terry or Wayne Bridge, and who can blame him?
Ahead of his last England friendly before he settles
down to select a World Cup squad, the Italian would much rather
talk about Wayne Rooney, as most of his
counterparts in international football management are doing.
"I see the other managers quite a lot, at meetings and
conferences," Capello explains. "Always they come to me and say the
same thing – 'You have one fantastic player'. Vicente del Bosque,
Giovanni Trapattoni, they ask me always about Rooney."
And how does Capello respond? Like a drowning man grabbing a
lifeline, or a hungry prisoner discovering rare and refreshing
fruit is on the menu for a change. When all your adopted country
seems to be interested in is a tawdry succession of off-field
scandals it is all the more pleasant to be asked to consider a
footballer who is winning global admiration for playing
football.
"Rooney is really good," Capello says, allowing himself a
slightly self-satisfied smile. "He did not play so well at Everton
last week but otherwise he has been in a fantastic moment. He has
improved a lot this season, he's always in front of goal now. Every
pass is good, his movement, his heading and his confidence are all
excellent. I think he's one of the best players in the world right
now. You can't make direct comparisons because every top player has
a different style, but you can definitely say Rooney is up there
with the best.
"With Lionel Messi you get dribbling and imagination, Cristiano
Ronaldo is fast and can shoot from distance. Kaká arrives at the
goal from the midfield area. Rooney is a centre-forward. He can do
most things and he's strong. He runs a lot and presses a lot. The
others don't, and that's a big difference. He's very important to
us."
There. Wasn't that like a breath of fresh air? Listening to the
FA chairman, Lord Triesman, on the subject a few days ago, it
quickly became clear that his employers regard Capello with the
same admiration the manager reserves for his best attacking player.
After years of searching England have finally found themselves
someone who is demonstrably good at his job. Someone happy to take
charge, a figure of authority players can shelter behind, someone
who can make an average team look good. At £6m a year Capello may
not count as a bargain, but Triesman is more than happy with the
amount of authority he has imported. That is why, he said, there
was no question of the FA telling him how to handle the Terry case,
or seeking to influence his decision about the captaincy. What
Capello says goes.
Which is just as well, as it happens, since Capello is now
saying Terry will still be his leader on the field, no matter who
wears the armband. While the coach was careful to confirm that he
would not be changing his mind and offering Terry the captaincy
back in the foreseeable future, certainly not before the World Cup
and probably not afterwards, just as significant was his admission
that he never considered leaving him out of the squad.
Whether Terry feels quite the same way is doubtful, but Capello
clearly views the armband as an object of only slightly more
importance than the coin captains toss to decide ends or the
pennants they exchange before kick off. The FA might be
congratulating themselves on having a big man who can get the big
decisions right, but for Capello it was literally the work of a few
minutes to toss the honour to the next man in line, even though he
hardly ever plays, and shadow him with a player who is rarely
demonstrative even when he captains Liverpool.
Capello is only concerned with events on the pitch, and at
Wembley on Wednesday it is unlikely to look as if too much has
changed. Terry will still be the de facto leader, Capello has just
admitted as much, and together with Rooney he remains central, in
every sense, to England's hopes of success in South Africa.
Capello hopes he has seen the last of the lurid headlines,
though he also says he is not unduly concerned about players'
private lives, since that is an area for club managers to
supervise. Of Wayne Bridge he points out there is still time for a
change of heart, before adding pointedly that when he played he
only had the chance to appear in one World Cup, and some players
get none. Of the notorious Wags, whom he amusingly likened to a
virus at the last tournament, he claims to be unconcerned where
they base themselves in South Africa as long as they stay out of
the England training camp.
If he has one wish for the World Cup it is a simple one, and the
same one practically every other World Cup manager would make. "I
hope my best players will be fit when it comes to the time to
decide my squad," he says. No prizes for guessing which players he
means.
