England enter last chance saloon in attempt to avoid early flight home

A few days of finger pointing in the England camp has not done much to quell the nerves ahead of a game which has more riding on it that than ever seemed plausible before this World Cup campaign began. In need of all three points against Slovenia this afternoon to be certain of qualification, the time for talking is now over and England need to demonstrate why the bookmakers had them down as third favourites to win the tournament before they started to stutter so inexplicably.

Should Fabio Capello’s men fail to book their place in the last sixteen, they can expect the inquest to continue long after they trudge off the pitch in Port Elizabeth. Capello will almost certainly be out of a job, a number of players’ international careers will end in ignominy and they will return home to a nation whose overinflated expectations of the national side will have been well and truly shattered. Surely all of this is motivation enough to turn in the kind of performance we became so accustomed to during qualification?

There are more obstacles to overcome than the need for pride and passion however. For a start, it has been patently obvious from England’s two performances to date that they are suffering from fatigue after a brutal domestic season. Whilst it’s possible to argue that the opposition are in the same boat, with all due respect to Slovenia, the crux of their squad has not been involved in challenging for honours in one of Europe’s top leagues, as well as in European competition. Injuries have not had time to heal, limbs have not had time to rest.

Then of course there is the apparent disunity in the camp between players and coaching staff which has emerged in the wake of the dismal performances against the USA and Algeria. Played out in front of the media in an incredibly crass manner, both sides have now had their say (although some players may argue that John Terry’s thoughts were not representative of their own), but there is no escaping the feeling that there is an underlying feeling of discontent at their training base in Rustenburg.

So the question is, who has picked the team that will start tomorrow against Slovenia: Capello or the players? The truth seems to be somewhere in between. Whilst it is difficult to imagine that the Italian would have his selection entirely dictated to him by his playing staff, it would perhaps be unwise of him to entirely ignore their wishes. It seems that he has been willing to concede some ground in the past couple days, and it is unlikely that Matthew Upson replacing Jamie Carragher in central defence will be the only change.

The one that Terry and his gang have been clamouring for most of all is the inclusion of Joe Cole ahead of Emile Heskey, with Steven Gerrard playing just behind Wayne Rooney in a 4-5-1 formation. The demotion of Heskey to the bench must surely have been in Capello’s mind before the player lobbying began. He has looked largely hapless in the opening two games and rarely, if ever, looked like adding to his international goal tally. How to replace him is a different matter however.

Joe Cole’s supporters nostalgically point to his man of the match performance against Sweden in the 2006 World Cup as an example of how influential a player he can be. However, that was four years ago. Fast forward to the present day, he is a player who has played a bit part role for his club in the season just gone after recovering from a serious injury. He turned in some impressive performances from the Chelsea bench in the latter stages of the season, but can he have a significant influence over a game such as this for ninety minutes?

In his interview yesterday, Capello also pointed out the wrongs of singling out a particular player for inclusion as Terry had done with Cole. He may well have a point. Should he include him in his starting XI, is the level of expectation on Cole to turn around England’s fortunes now so great that he can’t help but fail to live up to it? By picking Cole however, Capello is almost acquitting himself of blame should things go wrong: it was the players’ choice and their fault, not his.

Capello has the option of picking either Peter Crouch or Jermain Defoe to partner Rooney in a straight swap for Heskey, thus retaining a 4-4-2 formation with Gerrard on the left. Given his apparent abandonment of Crouch as a starting option, as well the less than convincing deployment of Defoe alongside Rooney in previous internationals, Capello may well have his hands tied by personnel limitations as well as player demands. As such, that starting XI might look something like this: 

David James
Glen Johnson
John Terry
Matthew Upson
Ashley Cole
Aaron Lennon
Gareth Barry
Steven Gerrard
Frank Lampard
Joe Cole
Wayne Rooney

The examples of the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, where England recovered from an equally inauspicious start to progress, have been widely rolled out in the media over the past few days as examples of how a reversal of fortunes is still possible. It is also important to remember that the side haven’t actually yet lost, and unbelievably can top the group should their result better that of the USA’s against Algeria. Still at 10-1 to lift the trophy on 11^th July, some belief in their potential clearly remains.

Should they fail to qualify, Capello’s inevitable departure from his position would be a crying shame considering the progress he has made after picking the players up off the floor from their failure to qualify for the 2008 European Championships. It would also be the abiding memory of a generation of players who have promised so much, but thus far delivered so little. With just ninety minutes left to prevent the unthinkable, a nation is praying that the team’s pilot can remain off duty for just a bit longer.