GROUP SIX Kazakhstan v England: PERFECTION CAN bear a careworn look. Fabio Capello's side should win today's match with Kazakhstan before defeating Andorra at Wembley, but the men asked to give England a full season of uninterrupted victories in qualifiers are in far from impeccable condition. Half of the likely line-up have been absorbed quite recently in bids for Champions League, Premier League or FA Cup.
The manager reacts to that in his usual trenchant manner. “We have to win,” Capello said. “Everyone must play to their best. No excuses that we are tired, we want to go on holiday. No.”
At least the opposition are in a shaky state of their own for different reasons. The manager, Bernd Storck, protests that the leading clubs in Kazakhstan are unco-operative and will not help him raise the players’ fitness to an acceptable level. He also happens to lack his injured captain, Ruslan Baltiev.
The side has been beaten 5-1 in successive qualifiers by England and Belarus. Come next Wednesday night, Capello’s side ought to have 21 points in Group Six, which will leave them all but unassailable. He was probably sincere when predicting difficulties against Kazakhstan, whose collapse at Wembley did not come until the closing stages. The Central Stadium will be full today, with crowd and players alike stimulated by the arrival of England.
Nonetheless, Capello has been favoured by almost perfect circumstances. The FA served him brilliantly when the schedule was being negotiated. Although the England squad will feel jaded, they can buck themselves up by confirming that they are merely being asked to get the better of Kazakhstan and Andorra, who stand 132nd and 196th in the world, respectively.
Circumstances can still irk dominant sides. England have enjoyed a single clean sheet so far in the group and it barely counts since it was achieved against Andorra in Barcelona. Injuries have denied Capello the consistency of selection he would have desired in defence and Rio Ferdinand is an absentee today, but there is justice in the manager’s claim that he has emphasised the positive characteristics of English football. The team has 16 goals from its five qualifiers.
There is no indication of any let-up. Theo Walcott will be sent on from the fixture with Andorra to play for the under-21s in the European Championship in Sweden. Capello, a man of old-school temperament despite his mastery of the contemporary game, supposes that the Arsenal player’s months of injury were respite enough.
The match with Kazakhstan will carry its element of discomfort. Grand in conception though the stadium may have been, it does not offer ideal conditions. The England squad’s state of readiness is, on the other hand, not at all bad. Whimsical call-offs are a thing of the past. The goalkeeping department is the one section to be blighted, but it may do no harm to see how Robert Green deals with an awkward setting when, as is expected, he makes his first start under Capello.
Glen Johnson, for his part, is likely to get a fifth consecutive start at right-back, although three of those outings have been in friendlies.
Up front, many might have supposed that Michael Owen would be readmitted to the squad as soon as he had made his comeback for his club. Capello, though, has been vindicated in his resolve that the striker would first have to make a real impact in the Premier League. He could not do so.
Capello’s policy does leave him short of forwards. Attention turns now towards men such as Carlton Cole, although Peter Crouch has greater status after scoring the opener in the 2-1 victory over Ukraine at Wembley in April. On the other hand, Wayne Rooney could not come up with a goal then, on an occasion when his partnership with Emile Heskey was broken. The latter has had an awkward time since the switch from Wigan to Aston Villa in January, but Capello may feel bound to check that Heskey and Rooney still enhance one another.
Guardian Service
