2010 FIFA World Cup: Last Minute England Are Not Properly Prepared

Fabio Capello's pre tournament preparations have left the England team on the brink of disarray.

As the season ended England appeared to be in excellent shape, they qualified comfortably for once and the majority of key players were in good fitness and form.

Capello was left with two official friendlies to fine tune his squad but with a World Cup imminent he must have had a fairly specific idea as to the composition of his first choice 11.

The final weeks before the world cup are not a time for experimentation, they are an opportunity for a manager to fine tune a side that has been carefully  selected over the course of the two year qualifying campaign.

Most managers would use these matches to give their first choice players a chance to renew on field acquaintances at the end of their club seasons and become accustomed to playing alongside one another again.

Instead Capello chose to tinker with his team leaving both players and supporters wondering what his first choice line up actually was. Theo Walcott played 77 minutes against Mexico and then a further 45 minutes against Japan. He got more playing time on the pitch in these two matches then almost any player yet was not even included in the final 23.

Having Walcott take up so much valuable playing time has effectively deprived other players who will actually be appearing in the World Cup of the opportunity of gaining additional experience and confidence in an England shirt.

Capello has had two years to make up his mind who his first choice goalkeeper should be and there is no excuse for leaving a decision like this to the very last minute. He should have given his number one goalkeeper as many minutes on the pitch as possible, given his number two a brief run out and left his number three on the bench.

Instead he has regularly rotated all three goalkeepers at 45 minute intervals giving unecessary playing time to two players who are unlikely to ever make an appearance in South Africa.

By delaying a decision until the brink of the tournament Capello could also have fatally undermined the confidence of whichever keeper eventually does get the nod. There is enough pressure on a goalkeeper at a major tournament without knowing that even your own manager is not entirely convinced by you.

Why was Darren Bent given the first 45 minutes against Japan? Bent was removed at half time despite not having a single goalscoring opportunity and unceremoniously axed from the squad. Capello should know all about Bent by now and I don't understand what he gained by playing him for these 45 minutes.

Had Bent been presented with two tap ins during that first half and succesfuly converted them he would presumably have been selected for the England squad. This sort of selection criteria is extremely primitive and leaves much to chance. If Bent had scored in the first half against Japan he would not have been instantly transformed into a better player than the one Capello and his scouts should have been watching every week for the last two years.

Capello's decision making process seems worryingly arbitrary. When selecting players for a tournament of this magnitude a manager should take their performances over an extended period of time into consideration. Giving a player like Darren Bent 45 minutes to state his case for inclusion in the England squad seems vaguely ludicrous.

Perhaps the biggest question facing any England manager at present is how to accommodate Frank Lampard and Steve Gerrard in the same starting 11. He was deprived of the services of Lampard for the friendly against Mexico but had both players available for selection against Japan.

This was Capello's last real opportunity to give the two midfield linchpins a chance to try and form a cohesive midfield partnership together. Instead he played Lampard from the start and then introduced Gerrard as one of five half time substitutions. You cannot expect a team to retain any sort of cohesion when you change 50% of the outfield personnel at half time and the 45 minutes that these two spent on the pitch together was too little too late.

Perhaps Capello knew what his starting line up was from the moment the domestic season ended and included the likes of Walcott and Huddlestone in his team as part of an elaborate smokescreen. Perhaps, but I doubt it. I can't imagine that even a mster tactician such as Jose Mourinho would go to such lengths to prevent the opposition from guessing the identity of his first choice line up.

This pre tournament friendly fiasco has certainly damaged the confidence of the England supporters and there is a strong possibility it might have adversely affected the players as well. An emphatic win over the USA is all that Capello needs for any doubts to be swiftly dispelled and, given the wealth of talent at his disposal, England fans are entitled to expect nothing less.