All quiet on the Western Front this morning, just 3 days away from South Africa 2010. World Cup news is pretty thin this morning, with no major news of any kind coming out of the rainbow nation. Most of the teams are kicking off their final preparations and playing their last warm-up matches before the battle royale begins. The England squad played a friendly against Platinum Stars and enjoyed a 3-0 victory with goals from Defoe, Joe Cole and Rooney. Note that it is not Rooney’s goal achievement that is on the back pages, but Rooney’s famous temperament. The referee said after the game that he had been insulted by Rooney and that if he had done it in a World Cup game he would have seen red. Thus, he only received a yellow. He apologized to the referee after the game and gave him his shirt. I’m afraid that won’t work from now on.
Much is being made of Rooney’s temperament, with many commentators saying that if he tries to control it, he won’t be the same player, in the same way that Roy Keane or Eric Cantona couldn’t change form. they played. England need Rooney and can’t afford him to see reds or even too many yellows because of a tantrum. All of that aggression has to be channeled into his game, which makes him the player that he is. He’s improved this aspect of his game over the past year, but every once in a while the old monster rears its head, and all of a sudden it’s not as effective. This is not good for him or for England. Some of the US players even talk about using this to his advantage and trying to unsettle Rooney and distract him from his game. Watch out Wayne; I’m sure all the other teams will use similar tactics in their quest to progress. Fabio Capello was absolutely furious at half time, delivering one of the shortest speeches of his before storming out and resolving his subs for the second half. He made 10 substitutions in all, with Joe Cole being the only player to play the full 90 minutes. Let’s hope that bodes well for him to start Saturday.
Gareth Barry has said he definitely won’t start the opener against the United States in Rustenburg. His ankle injury won’t be at risk. Today’s transfer news says that Man Utd will try to lure Luka Modric from Spurs and are ready to offer a 3-man pick as part of the deal. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp says he will speak to Joe Cole after the World Cup; this comes days after he said that Joe had made a deal but it wasn’t with him. Real Madrid does not rule out an offer for Fabergas or Gerrard and Rafa Benítez will present himself as coach of Inter Milan.
Finally, a quote from Italian Tarcisio Burgnich, who played against Pelé in 1970. He said: “Before the game I told myself that Pelé was flesh and blood like the rest of us. Later I realized that I was wrong.” .