England's 2009-10 Season Preview: Fabio Capello's Year Ahead

Fresh from an impressive season last time out, Fabio Capello will soon be back in action with his England side as they start off with what they hope to be a long and successful year, culminating in South Africa at the World Cup.

The Three Lions are in action, in three weeks, as they travel to Amsterdam to take on Holland in a friendly.

This match will be played just after the Community Shield and before the Premier League season has even kicked-off. It will no doubt cause the usual free-for-all amongst the club managers, who will be seeing their key players head off on international duty before being fully fit.

The August friendly will be England’s third trip to the Amsterdam ArenA, having secured 1-1 draws in both 2002 and 2006; Capello will no doubt stress the importance of another match against such high profile opposition.

Capello has so far favoured the organization of tough away friendlies, but the project has so far been met with mixed results with the Three Lions losing in both Paris and Seville, but gaining a victory in Berlin in between.

In September England will first take on Slovenia in what will be the first ever meeting between the two nations, before they return to World Cup Qualifying action four days later against Croatia.

Both matches will be played at Wembley and England will be eager to gain revenge for their home defeat by Slavan Bilic’s team just under two years ago, which saw them fail to qualify for Euro 2008. A win this time out would be their eighth in a row in qualification and will seal England’s ticket to next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

October brings another set of double-header fixtures as England first travels East to take on Ukraine in a Saturday fixture before returning to Wembley on the following Wednesday to round off their World Cup qualifying group against Belarus.

If all goes to plan, England will then be free of the November playoffs where the last places in South Africa will be up for grabs, amongst the European teams who finish second in their groups.

Indeed it has been widely rumoured that England has already lined up a lucrative friendly match for November 14, against recent Confederations Cup winners Brazil to be played in Qatar.

However, neither the English of Brazilian Football Associations have yet to confirm this fixture, but it has been reported that the Qatar FA has done so.

It appears likely that the fixture has been pencilled-in at the very least, but both associations are most likely waiting until their World Cup Qualification campaigns prove to be a definite success, before they commit to and announce the match.

Once more this would definitely fit well with the previous high caliber friendly opponents lined up for Capello’s side. The Three Lions would certainly face no harder test than against the most successful side in world football, who have also just regained their place atop of FIFA’s World Rankings.

Again, all going according to plan, Capello and his staff will then travel to Cape Town on December 4, for the final draw for the FIFA World Cup.

Dependent upon England’s qualification and their subsequent draw, friendly fixtures will then be organised for February and March 2010, before a couple more games for last-minute preparation at the end of May.

The FIFA World Cup 2010 starts on June 11 and runs for one month through to July 11.

England’s Fixtures for 2009-10 Season

(as announced so far)

Wednesday, Aug. 12      Holland vs. England        Friendly

Saturday, Sept. 5          England vs. Slovenia       Friendly

Wednesday, Sept. 09     England vs. Croatia        World Cup Qualifier

Saturday, Oct. 10          Ukraine vs. England        World Cup Qualifier

Wednesday, Oct. 14       England vs. Belarus        World Cup Qualifier