SOCCER:FABIO CAPELLO is adamant his days as a football manager will be over when his time with England comes to an end. All being well, a campaign at the Euro 2012 finals will take him to his retirement. It sounds logical since he will turn 66 that summer. There is also a suspicion, though, that the post with this particular national team makes men wonder when they will next enjoy some serenity.
Until he tied himself to England, Capello's reputation was as close to unassailable as anyone in the game can ever expect. League titles came to him at all four of the clubs he had managed. If anyone insisted on a single unforgettable moment, Capello could refer them to Milan's 4-0 defeat of Barcelona in the 1994 European Cup final. And then came England.
There was, of course, revitalisation at the start. Smart decisions were admired everywhere, whether in Emile Heskey's effectiveness as a catalyst for Wayne Rooney or Gareth Barry's deployment as a defensive midfielder. Capello even took on an idealistic air when putting his trust in a 19-year-old and then witnessing Theo Walcott take that hat-trick against Croatia in September 2008.
The Arsenal player himself, however, sometimes volunteers the fact that those are his only goals to date for his country. There are reasons for that and Walcott need not reproach himself unduly, but Capello has found it impossible to sustain public faith in the England team. Some now treat Jack Wilshere as an icon of regeneration, although it is asking a lot to assume a 19-year-old of even his capacities will fill that role effortlessly.
In essence, Capello has to scramble for solutions. When the interview for the job was held, the Football Association surely never asked him whether he would care to scour the Championship. In the last England fixture, however, Cardiff City's Jay Bothroyd came off the bench to make an international debut against France.
Capello had not been making a commitment and Bothroyd has no part to play in Copenhagen. The manager's mind has to be more open than he would surely wish. It would be a joy to see Kyle Walker excel against Denmark this week, perhaps as a substitute, but nobody could have anticipated Michael Dawson, the England centre-half, would be asked to endorse a youngster on Tottenham's books as a prospective England international. Dawson did his best: "Kyle went out on loan to QPR and left them in a good position. He went to Aston Villa and it's started like a dream. He's only very young but he's quick and strong and gets in amongst it and will be a top player."
