Don't ask me how my schoolgirl crush over Michael Owen began. I only know until there is really another footballer where I have a crush on, Owen will only be the only footballer so far. But that is before I learned that he is married. Eep.
I know England coach Fabio Capello has been under stick of not calling Michael Owen up but to be honest, I do not blame the Italian at all. Not a single bit. Serious! Of course I will be happy if Owen is been called up but, the facts are being laid for all to see. Has he being playing regularly for Newcastle? He has only recently came back from injury. Everyone know what is Capello's stance on selecting players. But he broke a tradition of his yesterday ahead of the qualifier at the Wembley against Ukraine. By announcing that Peter Crouch will lead England's attack against Ukraine after Darren Bent who had been called up to replace Emile Heskey but he damaged a tendon in his knee (because Capello do not normally reveal in his meeting with the media on who will start a match, but then I suppose with the current situation, he is being forced to...I do not know). That means England only has three strikers and apart from Wayne Rooney, because the person Capello called up is Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor. Agbonlahor's call-up ended any talk of Michael Owen being called up. Agbonlahor was left out of the squad Capello originally picked for the games against Slovakia and Ukraine, but the Italian said he picked him ahead of Owen because he has played more games.
Fabio Capello said in regards to Gabriel Agbonlahor, "He has been training very well for the last few days and so I chose him for this game. The door is still open for Michael Owen and all the England players." Rio Ferdinand, who returned to training after missing the Slovakia match with a back strain, is set to start alongside John Terry in central defence. Capello will also have Shaun Wright-Phillips, who missed Saturday's game with an ankle injury, available.
In regards to Peter Crouch, the man who had been often overlooked will now get his chance to rise to the occasion. No pun intended, in view of his height. But then the Portsmouth striker has been backed to spearhead England's attempt to maintain their 100% record in World Cup qualifying Group Six on Wednesday night. Fabio Capello's team - who warmed up for the match at Wembley with a 4-0 friendly thrashing of Slovakia at the weekend - face the pool's only other remaining unbeaten side, Ukraine. Crouch's former Aston Villa team-mate Gareth Barry, who will also play in his customary holding position in midfield, has full confidence in the lanky frontman. Not only Barry, Capello believes Ukraine's tendency to lay back and try and hit teams on the counter makes the match ideally suited for Crouch.
On his side's upcoming opponents, Capello said that Ukraine, who are unbeaten in their three opening qualifiers would provide "dangerous opposition" on Wednesday in what will be striker Wayne Rooney's 50th match for England. The Italian said, "It will be a very dangerous game for us. They play very well on the counter-attack and we must be totally focused during the game. They have played very well in all the games I have studied and it will be a very tough game tomorrow." On Andriy Shevchenko who would pose a huge threat to the England defence, "Of course I know him very well from Italian football and he scored a lot of goals against us when I was manager at Roma. He is a fantastic striker -- a very good player. He hasn't played a lot this season with AC Milan but he is always dangerous in the box." The England coach did also took time to reflect on the 4-0 friendly win over Slovakia last Saturday which he expects Ukraine to play a similar style, "It will be a very dangerous game, they play very well on the counter attack. It will be very tough. I was very happy after the Slovakia match, our movement with and without the ball was very good and we created a lot of good chances. For me it was a good test."
Wayne Rooney yesterday was named the England's 2008 Player of the Year in a fans' poll. The man who recently scored two against Slovakia over the weekend had been lauded by both his national team coach Fabio Capello and fellow England and Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand. For Capello (who the former Real Madrid coach himself had reckoned that he can emulate Real Madrid icon Raul by becoming England's figurehead for the next decade), "Rooney is one of the best players in the world. He never played for the Under-21s. He jumped and only the extra special players can do that. I remember when (Manchester United manager) Alex Ferguson bought him, I saw him at a UEFA meeting in Nyon. He said 'Fabio, I am crazy. I have just spent an awful lot of money on a very young player'. Now he is happy because he spent a lot of money on a very important player." So if whatever the Italian recalled is true of one of the meetings with Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager is actually the original 'crazy man' when he signed the former Everton player over. Ha!
Rio Ferdinand, who is also expected to play against Ukraine after missing Saturday's 4-0 friendly win over Slovakia with a back injury, also praised his United team-mate for his recent England performances. "The good thing is that when Wayne is confident and playing well, there are not many better sights in football. He is vital and if he is doing the right things, it is only good for us. To see that hunger and desire in him to be a better player only bodes well for England's future -- and he is still only 23. Wayne is an integral member of our squad. He is beginning to play consistently well for England and he is improving in the right way." And, Ferdinand added that Rooney had probably been England's "best player by a distance" on Saturday against Slovakia.
Now in regards to those comparisons of Wayne Rooney and Real Madrid's iconic captain Raul, England coach Fabio Capello has first-hand experience of Raul's influence after coaching him during two spell as Real manager and he believes Rooney has the ability to have a similar inspirational effect on England. The Italian jokingly called Rooney a "crazy man" after his sending-off for Manchester United against Fulham earlier this month. But that remark hid Capello's huge admiration for a player who has rediscovered his appetite for international football under his new coach. Rooney's relatively barren goal-scoring run in the latter days of Sven Goran Eriksson's reign continued under Steve McClaren, but he has scored seven times in his last four matches, including two against Slovakia on Saturday. Rooney's fiery temperament has landed him in trouble several times, but Capello believes, properly harnessed, that fierce will to win could make him, like Raul, an ideal captain later in his career.
Apart from that, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand both paid glowing tribute to his management style ahead of the Ukraine match, but Fabio Capello believes his players are simply responding to the respect he shows them. The Italian said, "I think I respect the players, I respect the shirt, I respect the fans, and I respect all the people who work with us. Only this. After that the quality of the players is very high. I said when I started they need the confidence. But the respect is very important. This is what players normally say when they are doing well. I respect the players and the most important thing is wanting to win. When you win you are the best, when you lose you are nothing. The future can say whether Fabio Capello was a good England manager or not."
Now onto the two players on the Ukraine who will want to prove themselves in England once again after unsuccessful spells in the Premier League: Hertha Berlin's Andriy Voronin (on loan from Liverpool, and now scoring goals for fun in Germany), plus the one many are more familar with in Andriy Shevchenko. For Voronin who is now having a new lease of life in the Bundesliga, he wants to use the World Cup qualifier against England as the latest opportunity to prove he can return to Liverpool at the end of the campaign. But then he had been hampered by injuries as well.
While Andriy Voronin and his fellow Ukraine team-mates came to England seven days ahead of their World Cup qualifiers, there has been no contact for Voronin with ex-team-mate Steven Gerrard. England skipper John Terry revealed over the weekend that Andriy Shevchenko, his former Chelsea team-mate, had not replied to a text message. In fact according to Ukraine coach Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, he has tapped up Shevchenko for information on the England players especially those he knew from his Chelsea days in John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard. Mykhailychenko enjoyed success as a player at Rangers, winning five titles, and defeating England would please Scotland fans as well as Ukraine's. He also revealed his total respect for Capello but feels even the Italian coach learned from former Ukraine boss, the late Valeri Lobanovsky.
So in the midst of all that, there will be one person who is not planning to watch the qualifier between England and Ukraine. In fact, Fabio Capello's predecessor Steve McClaren who is doing fine and well in Holland with FC Twente in the Eredivise at the moment did not watched the England-Slovakia friendly over the weekend either. But then again, he has his own work at FC Twente to deal with already. How well FC Twente is doing at the moment? From what I found from The Times: McClaren's Twente sit second in the Eredivisie. Finish there, above Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven and Marco van Basten’s Ajax, and McClaren will have recorded his club’s best league placing since 1974. Not only that, he is also in demand in the Dutch footballing community where the Dutch FA has asked McClaren if he could give a lecture.
Not bad for someone who had been associated with the disasterous England tenure when he was in charge. I had always knew why Steve McClaren will one day prove that even though the England stint was a blip, he is still able to cut his managerial teeth elsewhere especially based on his time at Middlesbrough where he led the club to the UEFA Cup. While there is Fabio Capello being the boss at the moment with the England players, I admit I do still keep tabs of how his predecessor is doing in Holland from time to time.
Even in the midst of England's upcoming World Cup qualifier with Ukraine.
