Five Things Fabio Capello Learnt About England After Playing Brazil

Now that the dust has settled on England’s 1-0 defeat to Brazil on Saturday it’s time to examine exactly what Fabio Capello will have learnt from the Three Lions’ trip to Doha.

The match was only Capello’s fourth defeat as England manager and the Italian will have learnt the following from the match, the latest in a series of high-profile friendlies against the top sides in world football.

1. England’s best players must stay injury-free

To be fair Capello was probably aware of this already but never quite to this extent where he was only able to call upon two of his first-choice XI on Saturday. Despite John Terry’s claims after the game, England would struggle to beat Brazil even with all of their best players available and stood little or no chance when the injuries started to pile up. The 1-0 scoreline flattered England and, as unlikely as it may be, Capello will need all of his top players in prime condition if the Three Lions are to make significant progress in South Africa.

2. Possession is key

Brazil under Dunga are very quick to drop off the opposition once their attack breaks down in order to protect themselves from being hit on the counter attack, something which they are expert at themselves. This gave England’s back four, particularly the centre-backs, a lot of time on the ball, time that they were not ever able to use effectively as too many balls ended up being hit long and aimlessly towards the forwards.

Capello desires greater movement both on and off the ball from his midfield and they were caught too square too frequently on Saturday and as a result found it extremely difficult to penetrate the Brazilian backline through a passing game. Something which would equally be helped by…

3. Greater creativity

Contrary to popular belief Capello is not the typical defensive-minded Italian coach. England were free-scoring in the qualifiers and put nine past Slaven Bilic’s Croatia over the two games. In his first choice XI Capello places a lot of attacking emphasis on the ability of Gerrard and Rooney to combine and interchange in their positions on the left and just behind the frontman.

James Milner offered a more stable presence on the left, covering Maicon’s forward bursts diligently, but failed to strike up any constructive inter-play with Rooney. Whilst the Aston Villa man is looking increasingly like a good bet for the World Cup squad one can’t help but think that Capello must find room for a fit again Joe Cole, who is sadly one of his kind in English football.

4. Some players can book their summer holidays

The plethora of injuries gave the England coach a good opportunity to try out some players that are on the fringe of his squad. In a way the poor performance will have helped the decision making process as most did little to stake their claim.

Darren Bent will have needed to have been very impressive in training last week as he had little opportunity to do so during the actual match. Opportunities to make an impact are few and far between in international football and it’s a long wait until March for England’s next match.

Jermaine Jenas hadn’t played for England for over a year and assuming that Lampard, Gerrard, Carrick and possibly even Hargreaves, return to fitness then he might have to wait longer than that until his next cap.

5. England need someone else to knock Brazil out

England’s historical record against Brazil is extremely poor with only three wins out of 23 games after Saturday’s match, none of which have come in competitive games.

Brazil have beaten England in three World Cups in the past and, again contrary to John Terry’s remarks after the game, the Three Lions look unlikely to reverse their fortunes next summer against Brazil’s current generation.

Fabio Capello must cross his fingers for the upcoming World Cup draw next month and hope that England are drawn on the opposite side of the draw to the five-times champions, and that someone has done them a favour if they’re fortunate enough to progress as far as the semi-finals.