Franz Beckenbauer, the iconic figure of German football, has accused England of reverting to the bad old days of “kick and rush” under coach Fabio Capello.
England began its World Cup campaign with an unconvincing 1-1 draw against the United States and, with Germany making a strong start by beating Australia 4-0, Beckenbauer believes that Capello’s team lack sophistication.
“What I saw from the English had very little to do with football,” Beckenbauer said in a column written under his nickname, “Der Kaiser” in a pull-out aimed at World Cup fans. “It looked to me as if the English have gone backwards into the old times of kick and rush.”
Beckenbauer won World Cup winner’s medals with West Germany as captain in 1974 and coach in 1990 and played for the New York Cosmos in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“I am not sure if Capello can still change much there,” Beckenbauer said. “The English are being punished for the fact that there are very few English players in the Premier League as they use better foreign players from all over the world.”
Capello will agree with Beckenbauer’s comment about the lack of talent at his disposal, having bemoaned the fact that barely a third of the players who started games in the Premier League last season were English. But he is certain to be irked by the disparaging remarks about his team’s style of play.
He will hope for a demonstration of his players’ ability against Algeria on Friday, with Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole expected to play despite missing practice yesterday.
Another source of tension is Germany’s familiarity with the Adidas Jabulani, the controversial World Cup ball.
The Bundesliga and the German national team have deals with Adidas to supply the ball, whereas the Premier League has a contract with Nike and the English national team with Umbro.
Asked if he felt that provided an unfair advantage, England defender Jamie Carragher said he did.
“That is exactly what we were saying last night,” Carragher said. “The ball is very different. Every training session we do we always start by passing 30 or 40 yards to each other just for that reason alone. I’m sure it has helped them.”
England has practiced with the ball every day since beginning pre-tournament training camp in Austria on May 17, but did not use it in a match until the penultimate warm-up fixture, against Japan, just 12 days before the World Cup began.
Thomas van Schaik, a spokesman for Adidas, said: “There was an in-depth presentation in February where we presented the new technology and underlined the requirement to get used to it because it is a different ball and a different technology. We underlined this point. At the same time we also supplied all the federations with the balls.” — Times of London
Barry eager to play
Gareth Barry has declared himself ready to restore stability to England’s midfield for a must-win encounter with Algeria.
Barry said he has recovered from an ankle injury that had threatened to rule him out of the tournament and, after sitting out the 1-1 draw with the United States, will return to the staring line-up on Friday.
“The ankle has been fine for ten days . . . I should be spot on,” Barry said. — AFP