England 1 Switzerland 1:FABIO CAPELLO is reduced to diagnosing seasonal affective disorder in his England side. In this odd case, it is warmth and light that lower spirits.
Given the feeble efforts at last year’s World Cup and the recovery from 2-0 down needed in this draw with Switzerland, it is understandable the manager starts to worry as soon as he is pitted against a sunny afternoon. “When we play in October, it will be different,” he said, with a pledge that was embarrassing for a team who are supposed to function across the calendar.
The Capello theory has other flaws. If the autumn is so bracing, what happened in the goalless draw at home to Montenegro on October 12th last year? He would have been thinking primarily of the gradually debilitating effects of the Champions League that come later, but of the six men in his line-up who took part in that tournament five, from Chelsea and Arsenal, were with sides eliminated by the quarter-finals at the latest.
While Rio Ferdinand turned out for Manchester United in the final itself, injury has restricted his Premier League appearances to just half of the 38 games and he should not be fatigued. There was no valid reason for him and others to flounder against the Swiss and despite the players’ perseverance, Capello’s ability to galvanise the squad has been waning. Montenegro would have been clear at the top of Group G if they had held on to a 1-0 lead against Bulgaria. An equaliser leaves them level on points with England although far behind on goal difference.
Faith in Capello has gone into a trough and the manager was asked if he would resign. He has, of course, no intention of doing so and the table is not redolent of crisis. Capello’s removal by the Football Association can hardly be envisaged either, but it was unsettling at Wembley that any credit due his squad lay in a rally to salvage a point.
England were two down in the 35th minute, but Wilshere went on the attack almost immediately and after he had been brought down by his club-mate Johan Djourou, Frank Lampard converted the penalty. With that exception, the scorer had been a worry as he raised doubts about the viability for England of a box-to-box midfielder who turns 33 this month.
It was a subject Capello would not address in depth. “When he’s fresh he’s a really important player – big personality on the pitch, scores goals,” the manager said. “The player is good when he is in a good moment of form. He has played a lot of games.”
Despite that tribute, the critical decision on Saturday was to withdraw Lampard and send on Ashley Young, usually thought of as a winger, to take up a role behind the centre-forward, Darren Bent.
The substitute levelled the score with a first-time shot in the 51st minute after the lively Leighton Baines, on for an injured Ashley Cole, had chested a James Milner cross into his path. Throughout the day, however, England seemed to be improvising as they fumbled for answers.
Switzerland were ahead after 32 minutes, when a free-kick from Tranquillo Barnetta went over the head of Ferdinand on its way to finding the far corner of the net.
Soon afterwards, the generally disappointing Milner pulled away from the wall he and Walcott were supposed to have formed and Barnetta again benefited from an error as his set-piece went through the gap.
Joe Hart looked hapless while scurrying over to try to get a boot to the ball at the near post, but he had, in essence, been let down by team-mates.
ENGLAND: Hart, Johnson, Terry, Ferdinand, Cole (Baines 30), Parker, Lampard (Young 46), Wilshere, Walcott (Downing 77), Milner, Bent. Subs not used: Green, Jagielka, Barry, Zamora. Booked: Wilshere, Ferdinand.
SWITZERLAND: Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, Senderos, Djourou, Ziegler, Behrami (Dzemaili 58), Barnetta (Emeghara 89), Inler, Shaqiri, Derdiyok (Mehmedi 74), Xhaka. Subs not used: Wolfli, Von Bergen, Fernandes, Margairaz. Booked: Djourou, Behrami.
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia).
