England‘s Mission…
With only one automatic qualifier from the Group, the English can look forward to taut nerves, the full gamut of emotions and a media barometer on which the pressure veers wildly from world-beaters to no-hopers. Welcome to another England qualification campaign, Don Fabio. If the Italian tactician fails to get the team to South Africa 2010, he will be metaphorically dismembered by tabloid press and public. If he succeeds, expectations of world ascendancy in South Africa will stagger under their own weight.
So, if ever a sense of perspective is required, it is now. Of the six nations in Group 6, England boasts by far the strongest national league and the biggest pool of available players. Because of that, it also has a rich seam of talent. Yet despite the advantages of quantity and quality, and a longer, richer pedigree in international football, England has under-achieved for most of the past 40 years. So Capello will surely know that nothing can be taken for granted - not even Andorra away (well, in Barcelona anyway) on Saturday, in his opening competitive fixture as England manager.
The Group got underway last month when Kazakhstan beat Andorra 3-0 in Almaty. England will be expected, at least in England, to do at least as well against the hapless Andorrans at the weekend. Yet it was against Andorra in Barcelona during Steve McClaren’s ill-fated attempt to get the team to Euro 2008 that England fans turned their ire most vocally and vindictively against their own team for their clueless first-half performance. England eventually won 3-0 but Capello knows what to expect if the team lacks shape, tactical nous or verve on Saturday. Failure to qualify for the Euros was greeted as a national humiliation; missing out on the next World Cup is simply not an option.
Capello has had several months, though relatively few games, to prepare for this campaign, so it is to be hoped that the somewhat vapid display against the Czech Republic in August’s friendly was either a red herring or attributable to ring rust. There was a chorus of disapproval for that show, signalling the end of his honeymoon period; he has it all to prove to fans and media sick of misses - however near - and excuses.
And if thrashing Andorra is a minimum requirement, getting something from Croatia next Wednesday is seen a revenge mission, a crusade of national pride after Slaven Bilic’s impressive side outplayed England twice in the Euro qualifiers and went to the finals, along with Russia, at England‘s expense.
Capello can certainly talk a good game. Ahead of the kick-off to England‘s qualifying campaign he said: "The biggest challenge is getting individuals to play for England like they do for their clubs. There has been a lack of confidence among players and it's my job to rebuild that. There's a lot of pressure when playing for your country - we need to free them of that so they can play naturally, without fear.
"English players have always had a reputation for a great work ethic. But I've also been impressed by their level of skill and technique. This combination will help us succeed. I'm certainly very happy with the players I have in the England squad."
Ominously, Capello has gambled ahead of these two matches by omitting strikers Michael Owen and Peter Crouch from the squad but giving 29-year-old Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard his first international call-up. It’s a chance for Jermain Defoe to establish himself as Owen's successor, while Steven Gerrard’s injury relieves the coach of the perennial conundrum: can-Gerrard-and-Lampard-play together? That leaves just one enigma to solve: can England finally start justifying the hype and realising the potential?
Croatia Are Favourites
Croatia have the best recent record of the six teams in the Group and should rightly be considered favourites to qualify automatically from it. Slaven Bilic has proved himself to be a resourceful, adaptable and intuitive coach who has an outstanding rapport with his players.
However, his preparation for Croatia’s double-header has possibly been a little distracted by his emergence as the favourite to succeed sacked Alan Curbishley as manager of his old club West Ham United. Bilic sensibly refused to comment ahead of Croatia’s qualifier against Kazakhstan, saying only: "The players asked about it - they read it on the internet or the papers or whatever. But we are playing Kazakhstan on Saturday and are just concentrating on that game.”
The passion and fervour of the Croatian fans will no doubt be in evidence in Zagreb on Saturday and particularly Wednesday. Bilic and his clever footballing team out-smarted McClaren’s twice with ease, then proved they fully deserved to be involved in Austria and Switzerland with some impressive displays until they were undone by the last-gasp Turks, who beat them in a penalty shoot-out after a dramatic match.
The Croats are currently one of the most talented and difficult opponents in Europe, and can be expected to beat Kazakhstan and give England the sternest of tests. Bilic has built his team around a core of players he used to coach at Under-21 level, like Niko Kranjcar, son of the former manager, Vedran Corluka and the currently-injured, Brazilian-born attacker Eduardo da Silva, as well as Luka Modric, Ivan Klasnic, Dario Simic, Jerko Leko and Nikola Pokrivac.
When the draw was made, Bilic said rather flatteringly of England: “It's the hardest opponent we could face. I wanted to avoid [them] of course. We have a very difficult group as we got the top teams from the different pots in Ukraine and England. I respect England a lot and I really wanted to avoid them but we are not afraid." Nor do they have any reason to be after their exploits in international football since gaining independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and joining FIFA the following year.
The Other Contenders
It would be foolhardy to dismiss Ukraine from this group either. They sampled their first experience of the world stage at Germany 2006; like England they reached the last eight, But they missed out on Euro 2008, finishing fourth in their qualifying group. However, there is a promising generation of young players coming through, led by Dynamo Kiev’s impressive striker Artem Milevskiy. These younger players came second in the Uefa European Under-21 Championship in 2006 and make Ukraine potentially dangerous opponents to be respected.
Ukraine’s assistant coach, Andrei Bal, said of the draw: "Am I happy with the draw? No, not particularly. I think it could have been a lot better for us, but you accept it and move on. We did well in qualifying for the last World Cup but we have let ourselves down in Euro qualifying, albeit in a very tough group with France, Italy and Scotland. Now we have England and Croatia - and I have to say I think we have a chance. But there is no doubt we will need to improve."
As for Belarus, who beat the Netherlands 2-1 in Minsk in their final qualifier for Euro 2008, the Barcelona and ex-Arsenal midfielder Aliaksandr Hleb offers genuine creativity.
Bernd Stange, the Belarus coach, said: "We've obviously got to be pleased, ending up in a top group with teams like England, Croatia and Ukraine. We're currently putting a new team together full of young players and led by Aliaksandr Hleb as captain. We'll obviously be looking to create a few surprises. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to do what Iraq did!"
The term minnows might have been invented for Andorra, whose total population is significantly less than a full Wembley Stadium. They became members of FIFA as recently as 1996. Since then they’ve managed a solitary victory competitive victory, though they are gradually improving. However, two goals from Sergei Ostapenko inspired Kazakhstan to a 3-0 win over Andorra in the first game in Group 6, with Roman Uzdenov making it 3-0 on the stoke of half-time. David Rodrigo's side enjoyed most of the second-half possession without managing to score.
Kazakhstan are 125th on the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Andorra are the third-lowest ranked European side in 182nd), having declared independence from the former Soviet Union in December 1991 and been admitted into Fifa as an autonomous national association in 1994. They were originally classified as part of the Asia qualifying tournament for the World Cup, but are now part of Uefa. After collecting just one point from a possible 36 in the qualifying tournament for Germany 2006, Kazakhstan secured their first victory as a Uefa member in March 2007 when they beat Serbia 2-1. And they have got their South Africa 2010 campaign off to a winning start.
Upcoming Matches
It would be something of a shock if the three winners on Saturday weren’t England, Ukraine and Croatia, with Ukraine probably facing the trickiest assignment, at home to Belarus.
On Wednesday Ukraine will be looking for victory in Almaty against Kazakhstan, and should get one, as should Belarus in Andorra. But the most intriguing clash of the group (at least until Croatia visit Wembley again) will be in Zagreb next week. Capello will want to return to London with at least a point, but Croatia hold a psychological advantage over England after beating them twice. But that was under a different coach. The tactical battle of wits and touchline demeanours of Capello and Bilic will be an absorbing study in contrasts, and the game an intriguing contest and the outcome an early pointer to dominance of the group.
Saturday 6th September
Barcelona: Andorra - England
Lviv: Ukraine - Belarus
Zagreb: Croatia - Kazakhstan
Wednesday 10th September
Almaty: Kazakhstan - Ukraine
Andorra La Vella: Andorra - Belarus
Zagreb: Croatia - England
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