The verdict is in. The future of England national team Fabio Capello was decided today, and it was confirmed that the Italian would remain in charge as England's manager.
After England struggled to meet lofty expectations at the World Cup, Capello's future was up in the air in the immediate aftermath of England's 4-1 humiliating loss at the hands of the Germans. But after a few days of deliberating by English soccer officials, it was confirmed that Capello would stay on as coach and will guide England through qualification for Euro 2012.
Firing the coach would have cost England's FA in the neighborhood of £12 million, as he was handed a contract extension shortly after the World Cup began.
Here are a few other stories for Friday:
SOUTH KOREA COACH QUITS
Huh Jun-Moo, the coach who engineered South Korea's run to the second round, announced that he is stepping down from his post as South Korea's manager. Jun-Moo cited attacks posted online as a reason for his departure, unable to handle the criticism online of his coaching decisions. The Korean FA indicated that the coach was welcome to stay in his role after his accomplishment, but Jun-Moo decided to move on.
NIGERIA GIVEN JULY 5 DEADLINE
The news earlier in the week that Nigerian president would suspend the national team for two years wasn't received well by soccer's governing body. Nigeria has until July 5 to sort out the problems, or face a suspension leveled from FIFA as well. Government intervention is frowned upon by FIFA, and after Monday's deadline things could only get worse for Nigerian soccer.
TOURE JOINS BROTHER AT MANCHESTER CITY
Former Barcelona midfielder and Ivory Coast international Yaya Toure sealed his switch to Eastlands this week, where he'll join brother Kolo at Manchester City. The deal for the 28-year-old is reported to be in the neighborhood of £27.5 million, taking City's spending over the £50 million mark. Toure is their third signing of this summer, joining Jerome Boateng and David Silva as new additions.
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What do you think of Capello staying? Will South Korea bring in a big name? What's going to happen to Nigeria? Think Manchester City overpaid for Toure?
Share your thoughts below.
I stopped reading at “when the non-soccer-following sports reporter is questioning BB’s lineup choices…”
I wouldn’t expect a non-soccer person to understand Bob’s knowledge of the game. He wouldn’t be in the position if everyone understood him. I don’t want to understand my manager. It means they are better than me. Realization for all: Bob Bradley knows more about soccer than you do.
All I look at are results. They could put Bornstein at forward as long as we win. He made the mistake in playing Clark during that game (probably a pairing issue with Jr). But why not take all the lessons he had learned and pair it with the “Firsts” BB has accomplished (which is unparalleled to any USMNT coach in history).
Klinsmann doesn’t understand US soccer. No foreigner does. Only an American or a genius can handle our team. Keep BB!
Ramires is okay, but not that good. He got faked out badly in the US game in the Confed cup.
Thanks for the link!
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100701
Great read!
Has anyone seen this guy Ramires play for Brazil? Apparently his club team is Benfica, but I wonder why some bigger club doesn’t snatch him up. Seems like a far superior purchase than a “name” player like Toure
Capello is just another arrogant Euro-snob. The only reason I’ll get joy out of seeing him remain in his post, is so that the disappointment level continues to get deeper.
Can’t wait till they miss out on Euro-2012, under his watch.
Are you saying Real Madrid’s players didn’t”always play”? They hadn’t the second-highest point total in La Liga history. Imagine if they were trying, huh?
I wonder what Capello would look like with “significant extensions”…
Bravo! I applaud your courage and look forward to some really insightful commentary.
Fear the turtle!
Haha. Crazy how powerful soccer really is. The governing body of a single sport is threating the government of an entire nation? I love it.
Never question the wisdom of the almighty FIFA! If you continue you will be banned and your children will not play in any FIFA-sanctioned tournaments.
You are right but It’s still strange. It’s like a suicidal person wants to cut his wrist with a knife and someone gives him a gun and say ” Hey, this is better”
it would be more comprehensive than a simple sanction against the national team. the ban would extend to Nigerian club teams playing in any African Club competitions (assuming such exist) similar to the European Champions League or Europa League. it would also prevent Nigerian refs from working any games outside the domestic league.
Dude, when the non-soccer-following sports reporter is questioning BB’s lineup choices, then you he screwed it up. Look at his response to #20
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100701
He knows he’s hooked on soccer when he’s wondering why Rico Clark is starting instead of M. Edu.
There’s not much a manager can do to affect the game. Excluding preparation for the game, really all they can do is control the lineup: 11 starting and 3 subs. BB screwed up 2 of his starting lineup and had to waste 2 subs to fix them. Remember, this isn’t the first nor the second nor the third game of the world cup.
This is the FOURTH game. Has he not seen enough of his team to figure out who his best 11 are given the formation he wants to use? Gomez/Buddle/Feilhaber (with Dempsey up top) instead of Findley & M.Edu instead of R.Clark is a screw-up of major proportions!
Who else could have been brought in to give the US some energy / legs when they went down again in extra time? Buddle for long balls? Stuart Holden for some energy in the midfield?
The other question is whether the US would have started so poorly in the 2nd and 3rd games if he had picked the right guys to start.
For some reason, he has a man-crush on Findley and Clark and that cost the US a chance at the quarterfinals.
No Ifs or Buts!
The FIFA sanction against Nigeria is strange. How do you suspend a country that doesn’t want to play soccer any more?
Where’s the “Like” button?
Damn. City is going to be sick.
I think England made the right move here. Disregarding the 12 million they would have owed him, Capello is a proven winner and I think can reshape the England team. Will be fun to watch his work with England as they prepare for Euro 2012. I hope he brings in some of the younger English players or allows them to play (Walcott, Joe Hart, Jack Rodwell).
I wonder if England has been dealing with hoards of corny one-liners popping out of their fans’ mouths. Cause that’s all I hear about Bob Bradley, who led the US into one of the best 4-year spans of my life. I hope the USSF keeps BB and his ambiguous lineups…because even if you don’t understand them, they work!
BB is a coach’s coach.
yes- poor them. only Tevez and Adebayor.
Credit to Bob Bradley.. he doesn’t let online criticism bother him. haha
Manchester City overpaying for a player? Well, NOW I’ve heard it all….
ADU to Man City. 😀
I hope City wont become Madrid in terms of spending fruitlessly. I’d hate for the players to be there just for the money. That’s one of the differences between them and Barca. The Barca players, even with Ronaldinho, always played, and continue to with a smile. The City players, no matter how good they are, don’t seem to happy.
-They still need stikers though. They axed Benji who is more productive than Santa Cruz (who they still have) and Robinho wants to leave. They really only have Ade and Tevez
I love it when coaches and players get significant extensions before they’ve actually done something. Hilarity often ensues when they flame out. See Weis, Charlie for a golden example of this principle.
i like turtles