I think I have managed to find out what was being said the last time round Croatia was at the Wembley. I thought I did so, in the lead-up to Fabio Capello officially landing the England job almost two years ago. It has gone to the extent a few weeks ago, I had attempted to search through the Internet regarding Capello's famous words on wanting the job. Trying to find video evidence, that is.
What was certain being reported in The Times website almost two years ago and now described the same situation. From London to somewhere in Italy at the RAI television studios on 21 November 2007, news of England's eventual Euro 2008 no-show had reached there. Fabio Capello, then working as a TV pundit (this came after getting the boot from Real Madrid months beforehand), when being asked live on TV on whether he would fancy the vacancy which could arise, "Me, the coach of England? It would be a challenge and a great test to overcome. And I would be the right age." Before everyone knows, it is him landing that job he had always wanted. Look what has happened since.
With how the world of football works these days, people should constantly be living in the moment. So it was not so surprising for me when I read that Fabio Capello look ahead, and not looking back to what happened on that night almost two years ago. In his own words, it is history, belonging to the archives. He even said that he had never watched a recording of that match. While that is expected from the Italian, even the 4-1 win in Zagreb back in September is cosigned to the archives for him as well. But then, he is still expecting a serious test from Slaven Bilic's side, "They play very well on the counter attack and they are a compact team. I think it could be a tough game." And before I get to Slaven Bilic's side of the story on his claim that England has lost their 'Englishness', Capello had reacted back by thanking his Croatian counterpart for motivating his team for him. He replied when Bilic's claims were put to him, "Thank you Mr Bilic. I don't need to motivate my players after this. It is fantastic assistance, thank you!"
Not only that, Capello had also reminded his side have improved since the last meeting in Zagreb. The meeting back then eventually prove to be a launchpad for England's subsequent World Cup qualification campaign. Capello said, "The goal when I took over England was to get to the (World Cup) finals. When I came here, people said that - with Croatia - it would be a very difficult group psychologically, so I wanted to give the players belief." The Italian also added, "In Croatia we played very well and won 4-1. We played a lot of good games for qualification and won seven, improving in every game." And in another aspect regarding Slaven Bilic questioning whether Capello had tempered the "English spirit'' of the side, the Italian replied, "I want the English spirit. I like it. I saw this spirit in a lot of games. It's impossible to win without spirit. We suffered sometimes during first halves and played better second halves. It would have been impossible to do that without spirit.'' Though just don't ask Fabio Capello about the booing of Joleon Lescott over the weekend in the friendly against Slovenia given he do not understand why it happened.
For England captain John Terry, not being at the Euro 2008 tournament is actually much more worse off than losing the Champions League to Manchester United two years ago in Moscow. For Terry who actually missed out on the events almost two years ago the last time Croatia was at the Wembley due to injury, "When you're captain of the national team, you carry the weight of everyone on your shoulders. I took it very personally that we didn't qualify." As a result, Terry is determined to make amends this time. When the question was put to him on other major nations like Portugal, Argentina and France are currently struggling and the possibility of the star players from those nations not being in South Africa next year, "There are some big teams struggling at the moment and there are some big teams not going to be there. Portugal are struggling at the moment, Argentina as well. They have a few games to correct it but there are going to be some big teams possibly not in the World Cup. We have learned a lot from that. We always said we were good individually but not as a team. We are starting to improve that now. You look at Argentina and the players they have in their squad and they are struggling. Any team can struggle. Year after year at international level, the quality is getting higher. When I spoke to Michael Ballack (his Chelsea team-mate, captain of the German national team) after we didn't qualify for Euro 2008 the first thing he said was Germany's chances were better because England weren't there. It's as simpe as that. That is the mentality of the other players and we need to put ourselves there."
Not only that, John Terry has also backed his England team-mate Wayne Rooney to be mature enough to walk away from any confrontations and instead concentrate on doing his damage in front of goal. Croatia coach Slaven Bilic believes the key to success against Capello's side is to mark Rooney closely because the Manchester United star plays such a "wild" game he is liable to explode at any moment. But Chelsea defender Terry is confident on his team-mate. He said, "It's very important we don't get sucked into anything in individual battles. We have to got to win our battles but at the same time we have to walk away and be mature about things and don't get sucked into the things they are trying to suck us into in the papers. Wayne is in great form at the moment. He's scoring a lot of goals as well as giving a lot to the team. He becomes more important as each game comes. He is so young but plays with so much experience. He is one of those players who is literally a nightmare to play against." Fabio Capello has seen few signs of Rooney's fiery temper on international duty and is confident the striker will keep cool under any provocation. He said, "Rooney, with me, I remember only once when he did a bad tackle. Only once."
So while Fabio Capello is happy to report that everyone is fit during the training session yesterday, for Croatia's Slaven Bilic, one more player will not be in action after midfielder Ivan Juric became the latest Croatia player to be ruled out after twisting his knee during training. Suffering suspected ligament damage, Genoa midfielder Juric joins injured playmaker Luka Modric, goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa and suspended defender Vedran Corluka on the sidelines. Now, time for those claims which Bilic had been saying in the lead-up to the match at the Wembley.
First up, Slaven Bilic laughed off suggestions that his players would target Wayne Rooney in a physical battle to try and get the striker to lose his temper and get sent off. The other is one which has been sort of debated in the press: The 'Englishness', or lack thereof. Bilic replied that his comments at the weekend about the England team, when he said they had lost their "Englishness" and "aggression" under Italian coach Fabio Capello had been misunderstood. He said, "I praised Fabio Capello and I praised the England team. Of course they have not lost their Englishness. What I said was that they are more organised, more solid, they can control the game almost completely now and are playing a different game. They have won their first seven qualifiers -- that is like having three match points in tennis. There are still six months to go before the World Cup and I think they will get better and better."
When being told that the last time Croatia was at the Wembley and it rained then and what he may do if it does this time round, Fabio Capello replied jokingly, "I think the weather will be dry this time." But then one cannot help but think where was he the last time Croatia came to the Wembley. It eventually paved the way for him for the England job.
And I will end the entry with what Fabio Capello said in regarding to that. "It was always my dream to be here. I always said that. I think it's the dream of every manager (to reach the final of the World Cup). Now, my dream is first to go to South Africa. This is the dream. Afterwards, there'll be another dream."
