John Terry's England Captaincy on Borrowed Time; Who Cares?

Captain, my captain.

Perhaps I'm jaded living here in the States, but what's the big deal about who wears the captain's armband? Yes, I get it, you're the de facto team leader on and off the pitch. You're the symbol of professionalism for your squad, and you're often the team spokesperson when things go South.

But honestly, once the game starts, does it really matter? Does it make John Terry play better that he's England's or Chelsea's skipper? The guy is (was) world class before and he will be after.

Terry's England captaincy is under fire because he was playing kissy-face with teammate Wayne Bridge's girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel, above, -- sorry, turns out she was his ex-girlfriend at the time of the affair. Terry is married, has twins and apparently likes the flaunt them about and portray himself as a family guy (think Peter Griffith?).

Patrick Barclay of the Times of London rails on Terry today in his column. He pleads with the FA to pass the armband from Terry to Wayne Rooney. Rooney is the captain in waiting and Barclay figures that now that Terry's adulterous doings are public, Fabio Capello should make the inevitable, well, evitable.

Rooney, he says, is a latter day Bobby Moore, who at 22 captained England during the 1966 World Cup. Ron Greenwood, Moore's West Ham manager, was quoted in the piece:

“We’re going to win and that man’s the reason why. He can already see in his mind’s eye a picture of himself holding up the World Cup and he’s calculated what that will mean to him.”

Maybe that was the case in '66, but I think that's an exaggeration in 2010. I mean, do these guys give a damn the way they used to back in the day? Maybe I'm jaded, but today's pro athlete--and pick your sport here, they're all the same--is a selfish prick. A rich-boy of dispicable depths who would rather hold out for a fatter contract, and stay out later for his better pick of a drunken WAG. Captain's armband. OK, it's cute and you get to argue with the referee just a little louder than the rest of the squad and get away with it.

But is Wayne Rooney going to get in Frank Lampard's face is Lampard dogs it in the first half against the USA? Is Rooney going to kick Terry in the ass if he starts looking sideways at the closest WAG? Um, the answer is no. And why? Well, the captains of the world's football squads have to look in the mirror. They understand that the guy staring back is just like the guy you're supposed to get in line.

Captain, my captain. Does it matter? I don't think so. I just don't.

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Beckham Milan Deal Done; Will He Come Back?

Well, at least tickets hadn't gone on sale yet.

The LA Galaxy pulled the plug this week on their offseason trip to Australia to play Queensland Roar in Brisbane because of David Beckham's decision to train/play for AC Milan starting in January.

Guess we know who's running the show in LA. Certainly isn't manager/GM Bruce Arena, who was flummoxed at the initial reports Beckham may be headed to Milan to remain fit and keep his spot on the England national team. No training facilities in California I suppose; shame.

No, it's Beckham's world and the Galaxy and MLS just live in it.

Yesterday, Beckham crossed all the Ts and dotted all the I's on his deal with Milan. He will be with the club on Jan. 7 and return to the Galaxy around March 19. His first game could be Jan. 11 against Roma; question is whether he'll earn a spot in the Starting Eleven alongside Ronaldinho and Kaka in the Milan midfield. Hard to imagine.

But stranger things have happened. The 33-year-old is clearly on the other side of the hill as far as football years go, and he's not lived up to expectations in LA, nor with England where speculation is well deserved that he's just in it to break the all-time record for caps, and possibly extend that to 125 should he play in the 2010 World Cup.

That's two years away, however, and for the time being, the bigger question is whether he returns to LA after all is said and done. Milan officials said yes on Thursday, pointing out the commitment Becks has made to LA, as well as the endorsement deals he's contracted to. But if history has taught us anything, it's that deals are made to be broken. And if Milan is in position to challenge Inter for the Serie A title, or perhaps more realistically, a shot at an automatic Champions League spot, and Beckham is contributing, would Milan angle to keep him through the end of the season in May? And beyond?

I can't imagine Beckham is anxious to train every day with Landon Donovan and the collection of also-rans in LA. I can't imagine he has much respect for Bruce Arena, otherwise, he would have stayed in town, trained with the club in the offseason and helped promote the game in the U.S. as he promised when he signed. No, instead he's chasing the bigger stage--and that's fine if he weren't so damned insincere about it.

No one's buying his claims of doing this to stay fit for England's sake. For him, it's a chance to play in another major league in Europe, a chance for his wife to stake her claim in Milan's fashion universe, and a chance, yes, to stay within Fabio Capello's reach.

Try not to have an anxiety attack waiting until March 19 to see how this all plays out. Chances are that our gut instinct is right; Beckham won't be back in LA.

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Capello Puts Gerrard and Lampard in Their Place

Steven Gerrard gets his wish and will play in his preferred spot today against Kazakhstan, but not after a dressing down from Fabio Capello that he will not tolerate players pining for their favorite positions.

Hmmm.

So which is it? Do players play where you want, Fabio? Or do they play where they want?

Gerrard whined after England's 4-1 over Croatia that he'd played in his favorite center attacking mid spot only handful of times in his international career. Capello prefers Frank Lampard there and Lampard was stupendous against Croatia. It's a nice problem for Capello to have, and perhaps his strategy will play in his favor.

Has Gerrard earned this nod? Sure. And Lampard is no slouch either.

No the real winner is Capello who has put his foot down and finally addressed a problem he could not allow to linger longer. From the Independent:

Either Lampard, aged 30, and the 28-year-old Gerrard, prove finally that their brains do not automatically turn to shredded wheat whenever they simultaneously pull on the shirts of their nation or they go their separate ways. One is to the wasteland of unfulfilled potential – the other is to some justification of their vast reputations, to which Lampard did add, let us be fair, a little flesh in Gerrard's absence during the impressive victory over Croatia in Zagreb last month.

Says it all.

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Injuries Plague European GiantsAhead of World Cup Qualifiers

World Cup qualifiers aren't extraordinarily exciting, but since the domestic leagues are taking an international break for matches tomorrow and Wednesday, we might as well look at them too.

In Europe, the big deal centers around who isn't playing, rather than who is. John Terry is out for England against Kazakhstan at Wembley tomorrow and Belarus in Minsk on Wednesday, while Henrik Larsson will miss Sweden's match with Portugal and Gianluigi Buffon and Mauro Camoranesi are on the bench for Italy against Bulgaria and Montenegro.

Big names, but is it a big deal?

Terry has a bad back and this forces Fabio Capello to insert a newbie alongside Rio Ferdinand in the middle of the England defense. Matthew Upson, Joleon Lescott and Wes Brown are the trio from which Capello will choose. Terry has been ailing for a while; he played limited minutes against Cluj in the Champions League for Chelsea, and played with a brace against Aston Villa.

Luckily for England, it should be able to handle Kazakhstan sans Mr. Terry; but haven't we heard that before? Emile Heskey is also shaky for England with, yes, a bad back, despite his promise to complement Wayne Rooney up front. You'll remember, Capello went for Heskey over Michael Owen, a standard among English strikers and a favorite of previous regimes.

As for Terry's spot, Lescott seems to have the nod, but his case isn't a superb one. He's in the middle of an Everton defense that has conceded 16 goals so far. One more note, England has lost just one competitive match with Terry in the Starting Eleven; four of nine without him.

Other games of note:

• Germany hosts Russia
• Poland hosts the Czech Republic
• Romania hosts France
• Estonia hosts Spain
  

In South America, where the top four automatically qualify for South Africa, the logjam tie for second between Brazil, Argentina and Chile figures to continue as all three play teams lower in the table. Argentina is the only team staying home, it hosts Uruguay, while Brazil travels to Venezuela and Chile to Ecuador. Leaders Paraguay are at Colombia; Paraguay leads with 17 points, four more than Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

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Capello Extending Beckham's England lifeline?

Anyone else shocked by Fabio Capello's inclination to extend David Beckham's national team career? Yeah, Becks is one cap short of 100, but he's also a few legs short of being a viable player again. He can't take two steps without getting laid up for six weeks with a bad ankle, knee or wisp of hair.

The buzzqoute about Capello so far is that he's not one to "suffer fools." Translation: he's going to sweep through the English roster and mold players to his system, not vice-versa. This would figure to jeopardize the national team longevity of Beckham, Michael Owen--maybe even Frank Lampard.

Beckham may have the sentimental vote to get is 100th cap for England and Capello is now likely toss him a bone. But Capello isn't a fan of Becks. He chopped him from the Real Madrid roster toward the end of Madrid's title run last year, and the two did not part amicably. With Capello, no doubt, anxious to put his imprint on this team immediately, it wouldn't be a shocker to see him clean house and impose his will on Day 1.

Yet, politically, it might not be a bad move, Capello may be thinking, to extend Beckham's England career in a meaningless friendly. It's doubtful it would go much further with World Cup qualifying on the horizon. Capello's mandate is qualification at a minimum, especially after the McClaren Euro debacle. He'll need to establish a tenor and a top 15 players fairly quickly; that means cementing his midfield and finding a striker for the longterm.

Should be interesting.

England Closes In on Capello for Manager

The BBC and most of the English papers are reporting that Fabio Capello is thisclose to being named England manager and all that stands between Capello taking over is a matter of ironing out some fine print.

So the question that begs asking now that England apparently has its man: What took so long?

Steve McClaren has been gone for close to a month, and it was readily apparent to everyone except Brian Barwick that Jose Mourinho wasn't really interested in the job. So why on Earth did Barwick need to check with his panel of advisers on the qualifications of the candidates? Why did he need to wait for an official proclamation from Mourinho before flying in Capello?

Does Capello feel like he's second choice? Hopefully not. His resume is better than Mourinho's winning seven times in Italy, once in Spain, four Italian Cups, a Champions League and a European Supercup. He says the England job is a dream job, but he doesn't have the support of every Englishman. Some are still hesitant to hire an outsider. From the Telegraph:

LMA chief executive John Barnwell, however, believes that the choice of Capello would show that something is "deeply wrong" with the national game.

"Football is a worldwide game and internationals are about putting the best of your country against the best of another country - that includes players and coaches," he said. If you have to go and hire someone from another country, that devalues what you have done. If we are saying there is no English coach able to do the job then that is an indictment on our game.

"A lot of people in the game are going on about the number of foreign players in the Premier League having an adverse effect on England, and now it's looking as though we are going to appoint a foreign manager. It doesn't make sense."

Also from the Telegraph:

Former AC Milan and England striker Mark Hateley praised Capello but added a warning for England's big names. "Be very worried, be very worried - this man will not suffer fools," Hateley said. "He will drop people. He will bring people in you least expect him to bring in. He's not in this to pick individuals. He'll pick players that will balance up, and that's the problem we've had in the past, the fear of dropping the top stars."

Fabio Cappello Opportunistic in Defense of Real Madrid's Raul

Real Madrid seven points clear in LaLiga after its 1-0 win over Atletico Bilbao, but the real noise coming out of Spain is courtesy of former Madrid manager and England contender Fabio Capello.

Capello, firing back at his former bosses in Spain, says it was he who rebuffed efforts to loan out the Spanish legend. Capello claims management was down on Raul, that is performance on the field didn't match his salary. Not to mention that he is old [29!]. In hindsight, Capello was correct. Raul is second in the scorer's table in Spain with 9 goals and Madrid is on track for another championship.

Capello wrote in a column this weekend in an Italian paper:

"In the first meeting I had with the club president (Ramon Calderon) and the technical staff I expressed my doubts about what they told me and said that a 30-year-old player of his class and personality was vital for the team. But they told me he was a player in decline."

Soccerlens has a good take on Raul, noting he's been with the club since 14 and that Capello was firing back at criticism leveled by Madrid brass.

Capello is trying to look noble in defending and propping up a football great, who by the way, needs no help in either department. One has to wonder if Capello would have written the same thing if Raul had one goal and minimal playing time this season?