The aftermath of all the scandalous events hindering the progression of the English football team have just begun to set in.
John Terry Is a Womanizer
The pure chaos of the whole English team right now has been closely followed by the British press. After first discovering that captain John Terry had been having an affair with fellow player, Wayne Bridge‘s child’s mother, the reaction was astonishing.
The British public were seemingly disgusted with his behaviour – going so far to even boo John Terry on home
soil – something that was previously unheard of.
It wasn’t just the public that had decided that his behaviour was inappropriate – John Terry’s behaviour had repulsed the FA to the point where they had said that they were no longer able to comment on his behaviour, and abandoned hope of protecting John Terry’s pride.
Then, things got moved up into manager Fabio Cappello’s hands. He had decided he had enough of bad behaviour by his players. He even went as far as to say that ‘rich, young boys are the curse of English football.’
Loss Of A Captain
And after a long, drawn out decision, he decided to remove the luxury of captaincy from John Terry. The decision was made on the basis that he has specifically chosen John Terry as captain to set a good example, and become a role model for others, and John Terry had not complied.
The public reaction to this was just the same as when Tiger Woods was revealed to be a womanizer – one of pure shock.
It goes without saying that morale at this point was pretty low.
An ex-captain shell of a human, going by the name of John Terry decided that he could do nothing but accept his fate. He commented on Capello’s decision describing it as ‘the right thing to do’.
Wayne Bridge’s Departure
And what about the poor, defeated Wayne Bridge? We almost forgot about him.
He made a personal decision by himself that he could no longer play in the English national team, along side John Terry. Taking his leave, he declared that he no longer thought that international football was where he should be, and left an already shocked public, even more so.
Fabio Cappello awoke that morning to an absolute horror – his defence was in shambles. Wayne Bridge was no longer playing, and there were serious doubts as to whether or not John Terry would ever play the same.
And as for the new captain? The decision was made so secretly that even the newly-appointed captain didn’t find out until he had heard it announced on television.
New Day, New Captain: Rio Ferdinand Steps Up To The Plate
Rio Ferdinand has taken over as captain of the English team, which I personally find ironic due to Ferdinand’s less-that-clean record of drug tests, and on the basis that Capello apparently appoints role models to be captains, this is surely hypocritical.
In addition to this, there has been much criticism over the fact that Rio Ferdinand has no previous experience captaining any side, and also alleged rape scandal surrounding him years ago.
In my own opinion, there would be no finer substitute captain than Wayne Rooney himself, but as a striker, football history tells us that strikers are usually poor captains, whilst defenders are usually the better defenders.
However, Cappello still has hope that Wayne Bridge will return to the squad in the near future.
In addition to the whole John Terry Controversy, however, looms the Ashley Cole Horror Story.
Ashley Cole’s Downfall
As a player, no one can deny that Ashley Cole is a superb player. From his clearances to his tackles, he does everything with power and finesse.
However, outside of the pitch, his performance is less so.
Before this controversy, there were already confirmed incidents where Ashley Cole had cheated on his (very beautiful) wife Cheryl Cole, but after a few weeks that had blown over, and Cheryl had declared she had ‘gotten through it’.
This time, it was exposed that Ashley Cole had been engaging in an affair with a model, once again tarnishing British football’s reputation as being a nation of womanizing, sexist idiots.
But this time, he didn’t get away with it.
Cheryl had decided she had taken enough of Ashley’s infidelity, and filed for divorce.
A big shock-twist for newspapers. The Daily Mail had a field day.
Ashley, now lonely, but surprisingly not deprived of his wealth, continued to play with Chelsea, a team that has had a hard time this year defending their players due to all their scandalous behaviour.
He Falls Down, Right About…Now.
So, in a regular game, the game seemed to playing out smoothly, until Landon Donovan, US soccer star, made an extremely aggressive challenge which resulted in Ashley’s left ankle breaking.
Ugly scene that was indeed.
The diagnosis has been confirmed, and Ashley cannot play for 3 months, which is highly damaging to not only the Chelsea line-up, but also to the English line-up.
Considering that the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is only months away, Cole will have to regain fitness quickly after healing.
Fabio Cappello Is Optimistic
Despite all this drama and controversy, Cappello remains unfazed.
He claims that he is ‘glad’ that all of this has happened right now and not ‘in May, where we really would be hurt by this news’.
In Cappello we trust? We sure hope.
His team’s an absolute mess at the moment, and as much as I hate to say this as a Londoner myself, it pains me that I know England’s chances are looking slimmer than ever.
Fabio Cappello is sticking rigidly to his two-striker exclusivity rule, even after watching some amazing footage of Wayne Rooney performing well as the sole striker for Manchester United.
‘My style is always two forwards,’ says Capello. ‘It will be Rooney plus one other.’
Despite the fact the rest of his teams a shamble, and his defence is in utter ruins, Cappello knows only one thing – his attack.
At least he’s sure about something.