Another England WCup flop means uncertain future for Capello and his stars

Capello can’t stop another England WCup flop

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa — Legitimate goal or not, England flopped at the World Cup, and it’s not just the future of coach Fabio Capello that’s in doubt.

The 4-1 score in Sunday’s loss to Germany in the second round provided a stark reality that the so-called golden generation of Premier League stars wasn’t good enough to mount a strong World Cup challenge even with one of the most respected coaches in the game in charge.

Capello asserted that Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal when behind 2-1 might have changed the game if it had been awarded. He may have a point. Lampard’s shot hit the underside of the crossbar, clearly bounced over the line and spun back into play. It wasn’t counted, the score remained 2-1, and Germany went on to win with ease.

But the blunder by the referee and his linesman could not disguise how a young German team repeatedly sliced through Capello’s midfield and defense while his tired strikers rarely threatened in front of the goal.

Since it won the World Cup in 1966 — helped, coincidentally, by an eerily similar incident which was counted as a goal — England’s attempts to win soccer’s biggest prize have been futile.

Bobby Robson’s team got to the 1990 semifinals but lost on penalty kicks in a shootout to the Germans. Apart from that, England has not managed to get past the quarterfinals and its failures have almost become part of the game’s folklore.

With stars such as Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry, England has the backbone of what should be a successful squad.

The team’s failure to make an impact at the World Cup, however, has observers scratching their heads.

Capello’s best excuse for this flop, apart from the disallowed goal, was tiredness.

“We probably arrived a little bit tired at the end of the season,” he said. “But after the game that they played against Slovenia, we suffered from Germany’s speed today.”

Capello, whose contract runs through the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign and championship, was asked repeatedly at the postgame news conference whether he would resign.

Despite saying “absolutely not” he raised uncertainty about his position by saying he would have to talk over his future with the Football Association chairman when the squad arrives back in London.

But what about the futures of his players?

Although Rooney is only 24 and clearly has plenty of international years ahead, Lampard has just turned 32. Gerrard is 30, Terry is 29 and the absent Rio Ferdinand, who would have been captain if he had not been injured, is 31.

At age 35, David Beckham’s England days may well be over.

Capello, assuming he sees through his contract, has few young stars coming through from the under-21s.

Rooney’s form prior to getting injured in a Champions League game against Bayern Munich at the end of March was outstanding, with 34 league and cup goals for Manchester United. But that ankle injury, followed by groin and neck problems, clearly slowed him, and he has not hit the target since.

At the World Cup he was misfiring and looked frustrated. Despite hitting the post in the 1-0 victory over Slovenia, Rooney looked nothing like the player he had been all season.

Team captain Gerrard did little right in the 0-0 draw with Algeria, a result and performance labeled one of the worst in England’s World Cup history.

Lampard’s failure to transmit his form at Chelsea, which won the Premier League, to when he plays in an England shirt continued. But he was desperately unlucky not to be credited with a score against Germany.

Although Terry led Chelsea to a first league and cup double, he had the captaincy taken away by Capello after newspaper revelations about an affair with the ex-girlfriend of England teammate Wayne Bridge, who then refused to play for the national team.

Terry was one of the defenders at fault for Miroslav Klose’s first goal Sunday, badly caught out of position, a fault clearly noted ahead of the game by Germany coach Joachim Loew.

“We managed to expose the England defense. We wanted to get into the penalty area quickly and we did it a couple of times extraordinarily,” Loew said.

“We knew that the midfielders — Gerrard and Lampard — always support the forwards, and that their midfield would be open. We knew there would be spaces. Our objective was to set Terry up with Klose to force him to come out of the defense. We knew the fullbacks would be very much to the side, and that would create space that we could penetrate.”

Loew clearly won the tactical battle with Capello and England is once again going home from the World Cup a lot earlier than the final.

And loaded with questions.