Soccer: Fabio Capello has confirmed Euro 2012 will represent his swansong as England manager. The Football Association's director of football development Trevor Brooking caused a stir on Thursday by refusing to rule out the possibility of Capello remaining in the post beyond the end of his £6-million-a-year contract next summer.
It always seemed like a long shot, even though Giovanni Trapattoni, at 72 is seven years Capello's senior, has just signed a two-season extension to remain in a similar role with the Republic of Ireland. And, ahead of Friday night's group stage draw, Capello has confirmed he intends to bow out at the end of his contract as scheduled.
"As an England manager, this is it for me," he said.
It places more emphasis on the outcome of Friday night's draw in the ornate Palace of the Arts in Kiev, even though Capello took the unusual step of not flying to Ukraine until Friday morning.
The reason was that he wanted to work with the FA lawyers on his submission to UEFA for Wayne Rooney's appeal against a three-match ban which threatens to rule him out of every game England are given on Saturday.
It also meant Capello was in London to digest confirmation that the file into allegations of racism against John Terry has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service by the Metropolitan Police, bringing clear direction to the case one step closer if not an actual conclusion.
Not that Capello can do much about that, nor the outcome of Friday night's draw for a tournament he regards as superior to the World Cup.
"Absolutely," he said. "This time it will be stronger. It will be stronger because if you look at the groups and all the teams, particularly the three European teams who reached the World Cup semi-finals; the technical level is at the top, the organisation of the teams is at the top.
"Also some teams who didn't play well at the World Cup will now be back at the top. Portugal, France and Italy will be better. It will be a really tough tournament."
After the debacle of last summer, Capello realises there can be no repeat, otherwise the reputation he has built will be tarnished forever.
Lessons have been learned, he insists.
A city centre location in Krakow has been chosen for the team's base, preparation time will be chopped down and, most significantly, there will be no need to rely on familiar faces now so many youngsters have proved their worth.
"When we went to South Africa the gap between the older players and younger players was too big," said Capello. "Now the gap is closer and the younger players are improving a lot."
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