91Èȱ¬

: Rustenburg

Despite England's at the hands of Germany on Sunday, it now looks increasingly likely that Fabio Capello will be given the chance to rebuild the team and restore his own tarnished reputation.

Asking him to while the Football Association weighed up whether it wanted to keep him was hardly the vote of confidence he was looking for in the immediate aftermath of the defeat in Bloemfontein.

But it is understood Capello is desperate to stay and make good the damage done to English football in South Africa. He wants the chance to prove he is the manager the FA told us it had hired.

So what will the FA do?

Read the rest of this entry

World Cup 2010: Rustenburg

By asking the Football Association to back him or sack him, England coach Fabio Capello cleverly forced his employers into a corner.

In the aftermath of Sunday's dreadful defeat by Germany, Capello insisted he would not resign but said he wanted talks with the .

"I want to know he has confidence in me," said the Italian.

If, following those talks, the FA offers anything other than unequivocal support for Capello at Monday's news conference in Rustenburg, the writing will be on the wall for the former Juventus, AC Milan and Real Madrid coach. Even putting off the issue until the team returns to London on Tuesday will place his future in doubt.

At this stage, it is difficult to call but the vibes coming from FA sources on Monday is that they will back him to help rebuild the England team.

Read the rest of this entry

2010 World Cup: Bloemfontein

Although Ìýin Bloemfontein, that will not stop the raging sense of injustice over the 'goal' that never was.
Ìý
Who knows how the game may have ended if England had gone in level at half-time? Germany always looked capable of scoring against England's creaking defence but the momentum would have undoubtedly been with Fabio Capello's team.
Ìý
Watching from the stands, Fifa president Sepp Blatter will have no doubt been reflecting on .
Ìý
Blatter has always opposed the introduction of technology, saying refereeing mistakes are part of the game and made by humans.

But surely football can no longer withstand the pressure to act following mistakes like the one made here by Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda and his assistant.

Read the rest of this entry

World Cup: 2010
At the German training camp near Pretoria

is not only a battle to decide who reaches the quarter-finals of this World Cup. The game in Bloemfontein also presents an opportunity to assess the ideological and cultural differences between these two great footballing rivals.

Ever since England's heartbreaking semi-final defeat by West Germany in Italy in 1990, English football has undergone a commercial revolution which has made the Premier League the richest in the world.

On the plus side, that financial success, , has helped finance a vast improvement in the nation's stadiums, more entertaining football and allowed English clubs to become the most consistently successful in the Champions League over the last decade.

Read the rest of this entry

South Africa may have become the first World Cup hosts to be eliminated after the first round but that does not appear to have dampened enthusiasm for the tournament here.

In fact, so buoyed is by the way the event is going, he said on Thursday that the success of the World Cup should be used as the springboard for a bid to host the .

"We have got the facilities," said Zuma. "Those who take decisions have seen how South Africa is. I'm sure we could do it."

Read the rest of this entry

World Cup 2010: Port Elizabeth

You only needed to watch to realise just how much meant to the Italian coach.

His impassioned performance in front of the cameras matched his players' increased intensity on the Port Elizabeth pitch. Make no mistake about it, the stakes were very high not just for Capello but for the whole of English football.

Read the rest of this entry

World Cup 2010: Port Elizabeth

It is Football Tuesday in South Africa. But all England fans can think about as they arrive in this faded seaside town is the prospect of Black Wednesday.
Ìý
England supporters who have spent thousands of pounds travelling to South Africa are angry about the way their team have played so far at this World Cup.
Ìý
Faced with the prospect of becoming the first England team since 1958 not to make it beyond the group stages, it is clear they want to see more effort and commitment from Fabio Capello's team .
Ìý
On a day in the United Kingdom which has once again brought into sharp focus the economic difficulties the nation still faces, many supporters I spoke to in Port Elizabeth felt England's highly paid players have lost touch with the fans.

Read the rest of this entry

World Cup 2010: Rustenburg

This is not only a critical week for the England team, it is a critical week for the Football Association.

As Fabio Capello's side returned to training on Monday - the last time they may practise at their Rustenburg base if they are eliminated on Wednesday - all eyes were on the players for any signs of the tensions that have emerged since .

Despite Sunday's supposed clear-the-air talks between the players and the manager, it seems little has changed. appears to have fallen flat with team-mates, who were not prepared for a . Instead, the meeting passed without a player challenging Capello over his tactics, team selection or Rustenburg regime.

Read the rest of this entry

Cape Town

Deflated , England's players were given Saturday morning off to relax or take in the sights of Cape Town.

Outside the team's exclusive Vineyard Hotel, a group of camera crews and photographers waited to capture those players brave enough to venture out.

Others, like Wayne Rooney, remained holed up inside. After his frustrated outburst at the many England supporters inside the stadium who expressed their anger at England's display, the Manchester United striker was rather more camera shy the morning after.

Read the rest of this entry

Cape Town

Jeremy Hunt may be here in Cape Town on a fact-finding mission for but the London 2012 Olympics are never far from the new Culture Secretary's thoughts.

And in an interview with the 91Èȱ¬ here, Hunt has again refused to rule out further cuts to the Olympic budget or, perhaps more controversially, a raid on the Games' remaining £1.2bn contingency fund.

Hunt, who is on a three-day trip to South Africa and will attend England's World Cup match against Algeria on Friday, insisted the Government would do nothing to jeopardise the delivery of a "safe and successful" Olympics.

But he added that, with the public finances facing such severe pressure, .

Read the rest of this entry

World Cup 2010: Cape Town

What is the story that has most upset Fifa at this World Cup so far? Is it the lack of goals or the thousands of empty seats at games that were supposed to be sell-outs? What about the stewards' strike that has forced police to take over the running of nearly half the stadiums or the transport gridlock which has blighted some of the early matches?

None of the above actually. Instead, the lawyers are in a lather over 36 blonde girls dressed in orange mini-dresses who, according to Fifa, broke strict ambush-marketing rules at the game between the .

The lawyers claim the girls were part of a co-ordinated operation by beer brand Bavaria - and two Dutch women, . Apparently, they were arrested in their underwear.

Read the rest of this entry

2010 World Cup: Johannesburg
Ìý
It's official - this is the most boring in history. A sweeping statement, I know, but according to statistics for the , there have been fewer goals scored at this stage of the competition than at any point in .

And it's not as if there are just one or two goals in it. , the closest to South Africa 2010 in terms of goals scored, managedÌýseven more after the first 16 games.

Now, I know that exciting football is not all about goals. Wednesday produced the sort of shock which makes this such a wonderful event, favourites .

Read the rest of this entry

World Cup 2010: Rustenburg

Fabio Capello has had a relatively smooth ride since . And rightly so.

He helped England regain their verve after the desperate days of , and guided the team to the with an almost unblemished record.

But the last few days have shown that Capello, for all his pedigree as a club manager, is not perfect. Perhaps the unique pressures of managing England are a lot harder than he first realised.

Read the rest of this entry

Before questions were starting to be asked about the rather lacklustre opening to this tournament.

the competition went flat and that wasn't only because of

This is not exactly scientific but if you take the first eight games from and Germany 2006, the goals per game average is way down.

Read the rest of this entry

Almost two decades after was shunned by the international sporting community, the country on Friday embraced the world with a vivid, and a memorable first match.

South African fans leaving might have felt they should have beaten an impressive but wasteful side, but awill give even more hope to a country that has been swept by optimism in recent days.

Read the rest of this entry

All eyes might be on this but behind the scenes the race to host the tournament in 2018 is intensifying. Inside the , the luxury Sandton hotel where each of the 24 members of the Fifa executive committee are staying, all nine bidding countries have been out in force.

At this stage, it is still too early to predict the outcome of December's vote. But the last few days have seen some crucial developments.

Firstly, the , AFC, held its congress on Tuesday and decided that it would back Europe for 2018.

With today's unsurprising news that , the move leaves the United States as the only non-European bidder.

Read the rest of this entry

hasn't even started and the party has begun here in Johannesburg.

While England manager Fabio Capello was snapping at the snappers in Rustenburg, there was an explosion of a different kind in the business district of Sandton, where tens of thousands of South African fans spilled onto the streets in a joyous celebration of their team, Bafana Bafana.

Their Brazilian manager, Carlos Parreira, was not too happy at the distractions of an open top bus parade And most teams wait until they have won something before going on a victory procession.

Read the rest of this entry

But South Africa 2010 feels different. Thanks to the recession, combined with high hotel and travel prices, the multi-national giants, who traditionally send in huge numbers to big sporting events, have stayed away.

The banks and other financial companies, still anxious about being seen to be extravagant, have decided to keep a low profile here.

And, although South African companies have stepped in to fill the void, the firm responsible for selling corporate packages for this World Cup admits it has taken a hit.

Read the rest of this entry

Given England's appalling record in penalty shoot-outs at World Cups, anything that might help swing the balance back in their favour will no doubt be welcomed by Fabio Capello's team.

new directive to all 29 World Cup referees and their assistants means

For the avoidance of doubt, , played examples of the sort of penalties that will be outlawed for the first time in South Africa to officials at their plush headquarters on the outskirts of Pretoria.

Read the rest of this entry

For all the meticulous preparation manager Fabio Capello has put in to England's training camp here in Rustenburg, goes to show you can't eliminate bad luck.

Capello saw his captain limp out of the tournament a week before it even begins with an injured left knee suffered in a tackle with team-mate Emile Heskey during training.

The loss of Ferdinand, who shows that for all the discipline the Italian has introduced, England's squad remains vulnerable to injury and rotten turns of fortune.

Ferdinand's injury will have ruined a good first full day for Capello and his team in South Africa.

Read the rest of this entry

may have put their charge for Manchester United but their announcement on Wednesday is unlikely to mark the end of ownership of the Premier League club.

While it is undoubtedly true that the American family's £1.5bn asking price has deterred a significant number of potential investors, senior figures in the Red Knights campaign, including the , insist they will not give up.

Having amassed around 70 wealthy backers, the Red Knights are now down to about 25. But they will not do anything until after and probably not until after the new season kicks off.

Read the rest of this entry

After a few days of uncertainty, England coach Fabio Capello will board the plane for South Africa reassured over his future.

A phone call between new Club England chairman Sir David Richards and Capello on Monday was enough to ease the Italian's concerns over his contract after the sudden departure of Lord David Triesman as Football Association chairman.

Six weeks ago, Triesman and Capello shook hands on an agreement to remove a break clause in Capello's £5m-a-year deal that would have allowed both sides to terminate the contract after the World Cup in South Africa.

Lawyers have been working on the small print of the deal for the last 36 hours to ensure the marriage between Capello and the FA will continue up to 2012 as planned.

Read the rest of this entry