FOOTBALL: WALCOTT'S MAGIC OR CAPELLO'S GENIUS?

Well, I have been silently following the news heading towards the match in Zagreb. Everyone has been expecting England to fall badly because of the bad records against Croatia and the recent bad performance against Andorra. The excuse the genius analysts in the local newspapers has been giving is that Croatia beat Andorra more convincingly last time than England did and also beat England convincingly since their last two clashes. Zagreb is the last place on earth where England can win since they have not lost a competitive game at home in over A DECADE! The genius analysts gave so many tips on how to bet the game and many expected England to draw. Steven Gerrard's and Owen Hargreaves' absence is another factor.

I have been silently smiling this morning when I saw the results. Croatia 1-4 England. My my my, I was expecting something special from Capello but this is more than what I had expected. All of you know I am a Capello fan. When you have him as your coach, you already win 50% of the match before you even go down playing. This guy is what I should describe as "IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING". Please just give him some more time and he will create the impossible.

Let me quote from Soccernet in the following paragraph.
"Prior to the World Cup qualifier, Croatia coach Slaven Bilic had spoken of his fear that Capello had the class as a coach to upset the odds, remembering he had done just that when an understrength AC Milan team destroyed Barcelona's 'Dream Team' in the 1994 European Cup Final. Bilic obviously knows his football history. His Croatian team, whose qualities and Indian sign over England made them the fifth-ranked team in the world, were put to the sword in a fashion very similar to Barca on that fabled Athens night. "

Hey all you Capello doubters, let me tell you again. Don't write him off yet. He came to Real Madrid and did the impossible. When you have him on the field, victory is a lot easier achieved be it pure luck or determination or effort or hardwork or strategy. I went through the crisis with the club for years and I know how he struggled to finally bring them out of the crisis. It took so many coaches, one president and many players to finally come out of the wilderness. I declared whichever coach can come and turn this club around must be extraordinary.

Capello did it in one season regardless of what the critics said. He was given even less time with England as you know all the top English clubs have thousands of excuses when it comes to releasing their players for national football. The latest to be criticized are Liverpool and Manchester United for the cases of Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves. Therefore, whether England win with pure luck or not as argued by millions of football fans anywhere, I don't care. With Capello, result is all that matters. Give him more time, beautiful football will come naturally. Then, you can argue till the cows come home that Capello plays defensive football and ugly football. People complained about that too when he made Real scored over 3-4 goals average in the last 10 over matches and conceding 2-3 goals average. Those were the most exciting matches I had ever seen for years.

Forget about those stupid people who can only accept England coach to be English. England is not Brazil or Argentina. They don't have so many past geniuses of football. Name me one player who can be good enough to be even equivalent to Pele, Maradona or Beckenbauer. Even among the many legends of football, not all of them can be successful when they become coaches. Some of them failed too. The same analogy about great coaches, not all of them were great players. Well, still I prefer to bet my money on coaching records.

With the shortage of good English candidates, the next best thing is to find a coach with a good past record regardless of nationality. Yes, Capello never has experience with national teams but this guy brings success to every club he coached. Please give him a chance with the national team. If he does fail, at least he will still be remembered as the only coach on earth who brings success to every club he coached ONLY (and win nothing with the national team).

Still, congratulations to Walcott for the hattrick. He may be a much better talent than Owen or Rooney. Let's just keep watch as he matures!

Fabio Capello begins to pay back England with interest