A suggestion for World Cup success Dear Mr Capello, An idea. OK, so it may be a tad premature but if we're going to finally win another World Cup, we need some cutting edge ideas. The Argentinians had a Hand of God in 1986, the Germans perfected the noble art of diving in 1990, the Brazilians learned [.

Having witnessed England scrape past a very mediocre Slovenia side on Saturday, I couldn't help but ponder England's trials and tribulations over the past few years. They're a team who continue to be surrounded by question marks, and I can't see that changing in the near future, no matter how hard Capello works.

Is this Rooney's year? As of today Wayne Rooney has 4 goals in 4 league games for his club, and 10 goals for 9 games including cup play and internatioanl games. That's a scoring rate one would not expect Rooney to maintain, historically speaking. If you have read the football pundits about Wayne Rooney in any of the last several years, it will have been hard to avoid glowing characterisations of his football.

1. What a disappointment. Where was the nailbiting last gasp qualification securing goal/hard fought 0-0? Two games to spare? Give us a break, Capello. 2. Only kidding! We're going to South Africa. And what an emphatic way to make sure. 3. Composed passing play, coherent attacking play, neat angles and positioning.

Spot the odd one out? Capello. He's not a knob. 'Mike Bassett, England Manager' is the most legendary Football film ever made. Forget 'Damned United', 'Football Factory', 'Mean Machine'. They've got nothing on Bassy. He danced half-naked on a bar infront of Pele, opened his curtains to the media completely starkers, and he liked the Christmas Pudding [.

Unfortunately for Slaven Bilic, the Croatian coach didn't heed that warning prior to sending out comments that have ended up in the England team locker room.
As Matt Hughes of the Times Online reports, Fabio Capello has thanked Slaven Bilic for giving England all the motivation they need to win tonight's World Cup qualifier at Wembley.

The world might be football mad and in England we have the most high profile and richest professional men's league in the world, but when it comes to the women's game the level of interest and support remain frustratingly small. While Capello's men play at the shiny new Wembley, England's women have yet to play [.

Watch England v Croatia live here.

The England squad for the international break (a friendly against Slovenia on Saturday, September 5 and the World Cup qualifier against Croatia on Wednesday, September 9) sees Rio Ferdinand, Theo Walcott and David James miss out due to injury while Peter Crouch, Wes Brown and Aaron Lennon return to the fold.

Admiral Capello strides onto the bridge. "Status report, Lieutenant Rooney!" he shouts.

Rooney is grim. "The Croatians have boarded the ship, Sir," he says. "They've already scored two goals."

"I see," says Capello. He turns to his chief defensive officer.

South Africa 2010

Almost twenty years ago England went to Poland knowing that a draw would qualify them for Italia 90. A backs-to-the wall performance and the magnificence of Peter Shilton ensured they had their point and the team then went onto reach the semi-finals of the tournament that arguably saved English football from itself and ultimately elevated it to today's dizzy heights.

A large number of our players are away on international duty at the moment. Let's hope they all return safely next Thursday/Friday.

My beloved Wales, all but eliminated from the World Cup next year in South Africa are home against Russia next Wednesday evening in Cardiff.

"Boys, diving is back on the menu".

That might be the most potent message after seeing England's game against Slovenia. And no, UEFA is not going to do any retrospective video refereeing because it is lowly Slovenia. Rooney can pull a player's shirt blatantly, fall down, and pretend he got fouled without retribution.

It's interesting to see that while England have (before Brazil played Argentina last night) scored the most goals in the WCQ's, they have shown their defensive errors a- plenty. Capello's men have only managed clean sheets against Trinidad & Tobago, Andorra, Slovakia, The US and Kazakhstan- hardly teams with great attacking threat.

The Beauty: Melanie Slade is the perfect WAG to initiate our PLTO Wednesday WAG of the Week Series. She's an undebatable "hottie" with girl-next-door charm. She's dating England's hottest young prospect, Theo Walcott. Thus, she is the future heir to Posh Spice's English WAG throne.

Former footballer Tony Cascarino believes that Glen Johnson's defensive frailties are responsible for Liverpool FC's poor defensive showing so far this season. Is he right or wrong?
Liverpool have conceded 7 goals in 4 league games this season. In his column, Cascarino argued:
"It's no coincidence that the Liverpool defence has conceded more goals since he [Johnson] has joined the club.

(All times - UK)
Saturday 5th September
12:15 Charlton Athletic v Brentford, League One, Sky Sports 1 / Sky Sports HD1
Your Saturday of international football viewing gets underway with the only domestic game on TV. League One leaders Charlton aim to make it six wins out of six against Brentford in the first league meeting between these two since 1993.

It was only a friendly, so I got the sense that both the supporters and England footballers were a little more subdued than usual, but in England's 2-1 victory against Slovenia at Wembley on Saturday night there was a lot to worry about.

Despite winning, England looked like they were playing in slow-motion, had difficulty rapidly moving the ball up the field and revealed lots of holes in the back.

363 days ago, at the beginning of their World Cup qualifying campaign, I wrote that England's 4-1 victory over Croatia in Zagreb was just as lucky as good, and we shouldn't expect it every time out.
I was so cocky in my cynicism, I actually wrote, "But if I were a betting man, I'd put money on Croatia to win at Wembley in a year's time.

Qualification sealed in style.

It was a game that Fabio needed to win and a victory the fans wanted to see in order to shake off any nerves surrounding qualification for South Africa 2010, in the end it was a performance to remember by a side who must not choke next summer.

It was a near faultless display from an England side clearly reaping the rewards of being coached by one of the all time greats of the game, for it should not be underestimated the impact Mr.

Three more trips to South Africa have been booked. England (1) did so in style with a 5-1 woodshed beating of Croatia. Capello has those guys coming around, eh?
Spain (2) beat Estonia 3-0 in its clincher. And Paraguay (3) did some double-duty, advancing on a 1-0 win against Argentina, which further troubled Maradona's side.

I know I´m trying to jump on the bandwagon just as it disappears round the corner, well actually two bandwagons, like a crazed charioteer out of Ben Hur, but first: what is the point of Emile ´the bulldozer´ Heskey? And second didn´t our boys do well? So that's me nicely caught up to date and its only Manchester Utd.

‘If in doubt, get it out!' It's a cry heard from many a parent and even coaches every weekend around the country at junior football games.

It's a cry that can sum up in a nutshell the attitude English football has carried for many years. And looking at some of England's attempts to win major championships since 1966, it's a slogan that the national team should have had stitched to their shirts at times.

(So to Group 6. Andorra and Kazakhstan will not feature here. Andorra belong in a preliminary stage, as discussed earlier. And Kazakhstan are better served keeping Australia company. Belarus will return as a more dangerous dark horse in qualification for Brazil 2014.)
Ukraine are two points behind Croatia, but have a game in hand and finish their campaign in Andorra.

[caption id="attachment_1376" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Guti is going to have to get used to warming the bench no matter how hard and long he ponders about this after giving good performances."][/caption] Looking at Guti's performance in the previous match against Xerez and also taking into consideration the past 3 seasons, from Capello .

Background: You knew I couldn't resist, didn't you? I have not hesitated to criticize MLS, Becks, the Gals, and Alexi Lalas in the past. The Beckham Experiment has failed. The hypothesis was gravely flawed. The fallout will be crushing. MLS always said they would be different than the NASL.

It's now three years since David Beckham was dropped from the England squad but with just over nine months left until World Cup 2010 gets underway, Fabio Capello is still mulling over his replacement. Over the next 10 days Aaron Lennon will be the latest person to audition for the role, ...

These International breaks drive me mad. Settling down in front of the racing and Soccer Saturday just isn't the same without some Premiership action, specifically without Spurs.

I really have very little interest where International football is concerned. Don't get me wrong, I support England in their matches but I just don't have the same passion for them as I did when I was younger.

Bosna-Türkiye maçı haricinde bu gece en çok merak ettiğim maç İngiltere-Hırvatistan maçı. Eski defterlerin açılacağı bir gece olacak. Wembley'de bir önceki karşılaşmaları İNgiliz futbol tarihine damga vurmuştu. Kazanmalarına gerek (!) olmayan Hırvat'lar büyük bir inatla İngilizleri deplasmanda 3-2 yenmiş, İngiltere Avusturya'ya gidemezken, Capello'ya Ada yolu gözükmüştü.

1. England. Damn.

2. Argentina. Damn.

3. In light of the wild reversals of fortune seemingly or I would actually think obviously brought about at their respective teams by Capello and Maradona it's a mystery to me how someone like Simon Kuper could argue with a straight face that a manager is a figure of little real importance who could be replaced by a Polish Lowland Sheepdog with no ill effects, since even Steve McClaren seemed to bring with him a whole parcel of ill effects, and regardless of your opinion of Steve McClaren he is presumably a few notches higher on the grand scale of being than even a very well-trained Polish Lowland Sheepdog, although for the sake of argument we have to consider the possibility that England would have been exactly where they are now under Steve McClaren, that all the team were waiting on was some mysterious gelling process and an improvement in Aaron Lennon's crossing, the end result of which would have seen them playing those little plinky through balls to devastating effect regardless of who was on the sideline, whether Steve McClaren or a Polish Lowland Sheepdog, or even Alan Shearer, but to me the whole point is that under Steve McClaren they never actually tried those little plinky through balls, but then what do I know, never having sat in on a single pitch meeting about how Freakonomics could be applied to soccer.

David Beckham e il Milan potrebbero riabbracciarsi a gennaio e tornare a vivere insieme la Serie A. Usiamo il condizionale perchè la firma non c'è ancora, ma è vicino l'accordo tra il club rossonero e la societ americana dei Los Angeles Galaxy, proprietaria del cartellino. L'accordo dovrebbe essere lo stesso raggiunto nella scorsa stagione: prestito a titolo gratuito da gennaio fino a giugno 2010.

When you have got the rub of the green, you have got the rub of the green. England's job became fifty per cent easier before they even kicked off last night as Ukraine and Belarus played out a 0-0 draw, meaning that they only needed a draw rather than a win against Croatia at Wembley. Still, though.

Sometimes this thing writes itself, honestly.
I think Sean Ingle or whoever it is that controls what appears on the Guardian Football mainpage should have been a collage artist: the juxtaposition of headlines often has an almost Drudge-like ability to wink and nudge at the party-faithful, in this case, those with a taste for the game's inherent absurdity.

Did you know the English national team coach stands to get a $8.3 million bonus for winning the World Cup?
Not a bad incentive.
But the main reason Fabio Capello has been in the news of late is his WAG policy. Apparently they will only be able to visit after games in South Africa, and those with other plans might as well just stay home.

I have an eye for an opportunity.
How does that work?
Well clearly, Capello wants to ensure his players are not distracted when he needs them to focus on the world cup.
So I'm thinking of offering my services as a chaperone.
All in the name of supporting the boys of course.

All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

Watford's Jay DeMerit and Richard Lee review a Paramore song. I love this concept. Can't wait until they get Joey Barton to review Celine Dion's next single. [ChannelBee]

Fabio Capello would've been a airline pilot.

The sight of Ledley King pulling up when Didier Drogba was running towards the Tottenham goal in Sunday's London derby left me with a resigned feeling of deja vu. Even on one leg, a training regime of swimming twice a week and the frailties of the midfield formation that wasn't working, King was keeping Drogba quiet.

Our latest contributor to COS, Mr Rant, can get a little carried away so if there are any small children reading this, we apologise.

I'm sure they just hate English football.

They're talking about bringing in the 6-5 rule. They blame the amount of
foreigners in the English game on the national teams poor showing at recent
international competitions.

Bom dia pessoas...! Here are two classic photos for your enjoyment. In the first photo, Fabio Capello aka The World's Best Coach was seen enjoying a medicinal mud bath with his wife, Laura at a beach in Southern Italy. What's a medicinal mud bath supposed to be, anyway?

Tottenham Spurs beat Preston North End 5 -1 in a Carling Cup game during which Peter Crouch scored a hat trick thereby impressing Fabio Capello to no end.

The little City-United back and forth on those poster boards is officially over.
Winner: United.
Sorry boys.
Now the links:

• Honduras will probably get that qualifier at home. [Yahoo!]
  
• Capello will have a short leash on troublemakers. [Mirror]
  
• Mexico stadiums open despite new flu.