Fabio Capello’s Year Ahead: England in 2009

After a successful first year in charge, Fabio Capello will enter his second year with one aim in mind: World Cup Qualification. A record start to qualifying saw Capello’s England claim four wins out of four, including masterminding that win in Zagreb.

So, what does 2009 hold for the Italian and the Three Lions?

First up on the International calendar is a friendly fixture against Spain in February. Much has been written about this fixture and the venue has already been switched from the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid after fears were raised about a repeat of the racist abuse suffered by Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips in 2004.

The match is now to be hosted at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuan Stadium, the home of Seville.

This will be the fourth friendly fixture between the nations since the turn of the century and England will be looking to set the record straight, having lost the two previous encounters 1-0 after a convincing 3-0 win at Villa Park in 2001 in Sven Goran Eriksson’s first game in charge.

Spain offer a huge scalp as European Champions and currently top the FIFA World Rankings. It will be interesting to see if Capello’s charges can carry on their away form from the victory in Berlin, which ended their year last time out.

From there England must wait another six weeks until they entertain Slovakian a further friendly match, this time at Wembley. Hardly a match to set the heart racing and it will most likely struggle to sell out given the current economic climate. This despite the FA’s efforts in already knocking down some ticket prices. 

However, the opposition have been hand-picked by Capello to provide a stern test in preparation for Ukraine’s visit to Wembley on the following Wednesday. This match sees England resume their World Cup Qualifying campaign and being played on the first of the month, Capello will be eager to keep the headline writers at bay and not become the April Fool.

June then sees a World Cup Qualifying double header as England first face the long journey to Kazakhstan on Saturday, June 6 before returning to face the less arduous task of hosting Andorra on the Wednesday night. These matches will see the end of the 2008/2009 season for the players and they will be looking to end it in style with maximum points.

After the summer break, we’re back into friendly territory again, with August bringing another tough away test, this time against the Dutch in Amsterdam. Either Capello or the FA seem to like these high profile away friendlies, as this will be the fourth after tough tests against France and Germany this year and Spain in February.

England have not won in the four friendlies played against Holland this century and will be looking to record their first win over their opponents since the memorable 4-1 win at Euro ’96.

A less glamorous opponent is then booked for Wembley once again, with Slovenia set for their first ever match against England, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5. Again, this is part of Capello’s preparations as his team get ready for the return match against Croatia on the Wednesday evening.

A win in that fixture should all but guarantee England’s progress to South Africa in 2010 but if all fails like last time, then October will bring the final two crunch qualifiers once more in the shape of a doubleheader, with Ukraine away on the Saturday before rounding off against Belarus on the Wednesday.

There are currently no fixtures pencilled in for November, but England will be hopeful of avoiding any more competitive fixtures in the form of a World Cup Qualifying Playoff that will await them if they finish in second place in their group.

However, with four of the remaining qualifiers to be played at Wembley, Fabio Capello will be very much hoping it doesn’t come to that. At least if the crowd can get behind the team this time...

Expect a further friendly to be squeezed in if all goes to plan.

Full England Fixtures for 2009

(as announced so far)

Wed 11 Feb.     Spain vs England (F)

Sat 28 March    England vs Slovakia (F)

Wed 1 April      England vs Ukraine (WCQ)

Sat 6 June        Kazakhstan vs England (WCQ)

Wed 10 June     England vs Andorra (WCQ)

Wed 12 Aug.     Holland vs England (F)

Sat 5 Sept.       England vs Slovenia (F)

Wed 9 Sept.      England vs Croatia (WCQ)
Sat 10 Oct.       Ukraine vs England (WCQ)

Wed 14 Oct.      England vs Belarus (WCQ)

November        Possible friendly/play off matches