Although a necessity, international breaks amid the ebb and flow of a Premier League season tends to lend itself to an altogether boring week in the office. Not to undermine Fabio Capello’s attempts to become the first man since Alf Ramsay to aid England’s quest for that elusive World Cup, but really, all and sundry would surely rather be concentrating on their club’s faltering fortunes in their respective divisions, or hearing about another unlikely transfer rumour involving ‘the next Ronaldinho’.
The news dries up
Top players from up and down the country vacate their clubs for obscure training camps around the world, taking with them all the noteworthy news. The transfer gossip tends to dry up, and unless the tabloids think of something inspired (Patrick Vieira to Chelsea despite a transfer embargo springs to mind) then the football loving public have to make do with the same old nonspecific jargon from various international captains or coaches. Where the back pages were once rife with Barcelona’s latest attempts to sign Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, in its place is a 1966 England hero hailing Fabio Capello as Alf Ramsay’s heir apparent.
Generic quotes from monosyllabic internationals
Just days after he was eagerly anticipating a Super Sunday clash against Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Ricardo Carvalho will this week be preparing for Tamas Priskin and the best that Hungary have to offer, while Torres may fair slightly better against Armenia’s Sargis Hovespyan; that alone suggests the sound bites are going to be few and far between. Post John Terry’s customary interview whereby he will usually discuss his Champions League heartache and a burning desire to win the World Cup, seemingly random members of the England squad are wheeled out in front a beleaguered, and headline hungry press to deliver an uninspiring call to arms (for a meaningless game with Ukraine no less, or in the case of Patrice Evra, the Faroe Islands) with more clichés then even David Pleat has in his repertoire.
Player withdrawals
If the usually philosophical David James doesn’t say anything inspiring, you can always count on international week being broken up by the habitual withdrawals of any number of players; George Burley had to contend with ten players mysteriously picking up injuries just days away from their epic game against Japan in Yokohama. That sensational bulletin was this week interspersed with the breaking news that Scotland will be sponsored by Adidas next season. Again ‘Duff adds to Republic woes’ or ‘Bellamy injury blow rocks Wales’ is not really enough to get the juices flowing on a cold and wet Wednesday morning, unless you happen to be Giovanni Trapattoni or John Toshack.
International wilderness
International week tends to throw up the odd player exclusion, and in their desperation to sell papers or indeed entertain themselves, hacks up and down the country flock to the said individual in the hope of extracting some bitter retort about their exclusion. This week saw the turn of Stephen Ireland, who despite excelling for Mark Hughes’ star laden Manchester City side, continues to stand by his self-imposed exile for the Republic of Ireland. The ever improving midfielder didn’t disappoint, claiming:
“I love being able to do things with my kids. During the last international break they were about to start school, so it was nice to take them away for a few days.”
Had Ireland declined to comment, the press sought out Bolton’s Kevin Davies who once again was cruelly overlooked by Capello. The bemused former Blackburn man told the press:
“It's not something I am really thinking about.”
Again, it’s not easy to get excited about, even if the irony may have been entirely lost on the 32-year-old.
It’s Capello’s fault
Perhaps we should be grateful that Fabio Capello has made the next two World Cup qualifiers, one of which will be shown exclusively online and therefore presumably to not very many, such a non-event, but the thought of another week of mundane headlines and more analysing of Glen Johnson’s culpable defending is not an altogether enticing prospect. It was more interesting when Steve McClaren was experimenting with 3-5-2 and Scott Carson, or Sven Goran-Eriksson was sleeping with the secretary, so we should probably be thankful if not very bored.