Fabio Capello's Year Ahead: England in 2010

Matt SJan 18, 2010

After the relative success of Fabio Capello’s two years in charge of England, the World Cup year of 2010 is now upon us as the Italian strives to make football history with his England side in South Africa.

The next year promises to be very much dominated by the World Cup, but the year will begin and end for England with Euro 2012 qualifying very much on the mind.

First up on the agenda for Fabio Capello and his backroom staff this year will be a trip to Warsaw on Sunday 7 February for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying draw.

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England have already been confirmed as one of nine first seeds for the draw but will hope to avoid dangerously ranked lower sides such as Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina as they look for a pain-free qualification route to the European Championships being co-hosted in Poland and Ukraine in two years time.

The first action on the pitch comes at the very start of March as England welcome Egypt to Wembley for a friendly match. The Pharaohs have been hand-picked as opposition by Capello as the Italian seeks to prepare his side to take on Algeria in the World Cup this summer.

Egypt famously forced a winner-takes-all play-off match by winning their final qualifier against Algeria last November before losing to a single goal in that match played in neutral Sudan and Capello will have studied these two games closely and will look to see how his side matches up against the very same opposition.

From there Capello’s time will be divided between scouting opposition players and keeping check (or should that be worrying?) about the fitness and form of his own charges.

The FA and Premier League have already reached an agreement for the league season to finish a week early (Sunday 9 May) so as to give Capello an extra week to work with his players before the summer tournament.

After the end of the league season Capello is required by FIFA to confirm his provisional squad for the World Cup. Capello has already spoken freely of his intention to name an initial 28-man squad before eventually whittling it down to his final selection.

However, Capello will still have to cross his fingers that any of his players negotiate the FA Cup Final on Saturday 15 May and possibly also the Champions League Final, this season scheduled for a Saturday kick-off at the Bernabeu in Madrid on 22 May.

A repeat of the 2008 final would be a nightmare scenario for Capello which would see as many as eight of his final squad going up against each other just three weeks before England’s first World Cup match if Chelsea and Manchester United both reach the final again.

Then Capello will finally be able to gather his complete squad and they will head to Austria for a training camp and altitude training.

England are expected to play at least one friendly match during their stay in Austria with Japan believed to be the most likely opponents as their pre-tournament preparations also take them to central Europe. The match has yet to be official confirmed by either federation but looks set to go ahead.

There have been rumours of a pre-tournament match against Mexico by way of preparation for England’s first World Cup match against the USA but it remains to be seen where and when this would fit into England’s, or indeed Mexico’s, schedule.

Monday 31 May is the FIFA deadline for all World Cup squads to be confirmed and Capello will trim down his initial 28-man party to his final 23-man squad which is due to fly out to South Africa two days later, taking up base in Rustenburg.

Ten days later on 12 June and England face the USA in Rustenburg in their first match in Group C.

The next Friday sees them travel to Cape Town to take on Algeria before they finish off the group stage in Port Elizabeth against Slovenia on Wednesday 23 June.

From there it is hard to track England’s potential games as their possible matches will be on different days depending on whether they finish first or second in the group, assuming they progress at all of course.

However, should England still be around in South Africa for the World Cup Final on Sunday 11 July then Capello can consider it a job very well done.

Exactly one month after the World Cup Final and England will be back in action again with a yet-to-be-arranged international friendly in August before the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign kicks off with double-header fixtures in both September and October.

Depending on how the qualifiers are organised England will play either three or four of their qualifiers before the year is out, and expect Capello to once again organise the most important matches for early in the season when he believes England players are in their best condition (note how both big wins over Croatia were organised for September).

November brings about the final international match date of the year which will see England play a further friendly fixture, with the FA still believed to be interested in bringing Diego Maradona’s Argentina, Leo Messi and all, to Wembley.

December will then see some highly important off-the-field action as FIFA announce in early December the host nations for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. England are amongst the official bidders for both tournaments and will be trying desperately to ensure that their bid is chosen ahead of competition from the likes of Australia, Russia, Spain and Portugal (joint) and the USA.

England schedule for 2010

Sun 7 Feb Euro 2012 Qualifying Draw

Wed 3 March England vs. Egypt (Friendly)

Wed 12 May FIFA deadline for provisional World Cup squad list

Sat 29 May England vs. Japan (Friendly, TBC)

Mon 31 May Capello to announce final World Cup squad

Wed 2 June England squad leaves for South Africa, Rustenburg

Sat 12 June England vs. USA (World Cup Group Match)

Fri 18 June England vs. Algeria (World Cup Group Match)

Wed 23 June Slovenia vs. England (World Cup Group Match)

Sat 26/Sun 27 June World Cup Second Round

Fri 2/Sat 3 July World Cup Quarter-Final