England are always too tired to win the World Cup because there's no winter break says Capello
England are always too tired to win the World Cup because there's no winter break says Capello
Three Lions' old boss claims they "are the least fresh of
the competing sides" at tournaments as players don't get mid-season
breather
Driving farce: Capello compared England's players to cars running out of gas
Getty
Fabio Capello has warned England will never win the World Cup -
because the players are always "running on empty" after a long season
with no winter break.
Don Fabio, who trousered nearly £25million
before tax in his four years in charge of the Three Lions, claimed the
quality of Premier League football is better in the first half of the
season, before fatigue kicks in.
Capello's comments will surprise
the England players who complained of his 'boot-camp' philosophy as they
prepared for the disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa in 2010,
culminating in a humiliating 4-1 defeat by Germany.
But, in an
interview with world governing body FIFA's offical website, the Italian
insisted: "They (England) are the least fresh of the competing national
sides because their league doesn't have a break.
"It's like when
you are driving a car: If you stop halfway to put fuel in the tank, then
you will definitely get to where you want to go.
"But if you don't, then there's always the chance you will be running on empty before you reach your goal.
"In
my opinion, the football played in the first half of the English season
is much better than the second half - and because of that, if you want
to be a competitive team in the Premier League, you need a really big
squad - which is a luxury you don't get with the national team." One and only: Will the FA ever need to make room on the mantlepiece?
Getty
Capello, who quit 18 months ago in protest at John Terry
being stripped of the captaincy, believes he left successor Roy Hodgson
an enviable legacy.
Hodgson was installed barely a month before
last summer's European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, where England
suffered their traditional exit on penalties - against Italy this time -
in the quarter-finals.
Capello, now in charge of the Russian
national side - with whom he communicates through interpreters, which
sounds familiar - added: "I think it went very well, but it could have
gone even better. The way we went out (of the 2010 World Cup, after a
Frank Lampard goal to make it 2-2 was wrongly disallowed) against
Germany still hurts - but that aside, I feel satisfied.
"I arrived
after the team had missed out on qualifying for Euro 2008, but under me
we easily made it through two qualifying campaigns and my win record
was very good.
"I also gave lots of young players a chance, such
as Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere, Phil Jones, Ashley Young, James Milner
and Joe Hart. Theo Walcott had already played one game for England, but
he established himself under me.
"I feel I left a good legacy.
"Was
there more pressure in England? On the pitch perhaps, yes, and the
English media put you under an awful lot of pressure, that's clear.
"But it's hard to compare that with what happens in Russia because here I can't understand what the journalists say!"
By
the time he walked out on the Football Association, Capello's patchy
grasp of English, after more than four years in the job, did not reflect
his salary as the highest-paid England coach in history.
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