The Three Lions - All About the England National Soccer Team

The current England side managed to qualify for thewell.
2010 FIFA World Cup undefeated, with a record ofOne of Cappello's requirements is that his players must
8-0.all be playing at what he terms "the highest levels of
Since England won their one and only World Cup title inclub football (soccer). All of the current squad come
1966, on home soil, their fortunes in the competitionfrom the English Premiership with the exception of
have been mixed and the best that the team hasDavid Beckham, who has gone to great lengths to try
achieved since the heady glory days of Bobby Mooreto win a place on the plane to Johannesburg. It is even
and company was a fourth place finish in 1990. Theyrumored that he paid the fee due to the MLS as part
failed to even qualify for the World Cup in 1974,1978of his loan to AC Milan in 2008 and again in 2009
and 1994, a huge disappoint for millions of Englishpartially out of his own pocket, in a bid to prove to
soccer fans.Cappello he could still compete in top flight soccer
So the fact that the current team practically sailed(which Fabio does not consider the MLS to be.)
through the qualifying rounds is certainly a great signBeckham aside, who did indeed participate in the
for the nation that invented soccer in the first place, butqualifying rounds fairly solidly, the current England side
it also puts a lot of pressure on the side.is a real mix of veterans and youngsters with a great
Much of the credit for England's improvement goes todeal of talent. According to Capello his biggest concern
Fabio Cappello, the former AC Milan and Real Madridgoing forward towards the World Cup is player injury.
manager who took the post in December 2007. His noSome of those he would like to rely on, Owen
nonsense style of management, and his somewhatHargreaves and Joe Cole to name just two, have
rigid selection requirements have thus far worked verybeen injury prone of late.