ITALY: SOCCER - Romans react to Fabio Capello's new job as manager of the England soccer team

Record ID: 566858

  • Title: ITALY: SOCCER - Romans react to Fabio Capello's new job as manager of the England soccer team
  • Date: 16th December 2007
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (DECEMBER 15, 2007) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA6F0VY2EZ43UN1BWKSJ9YW1BDV
  • Story Text: Romans react to Fabio Capello's new job as manager of the England soccer team.
    Italians were on Saturday (December 15) largely proud of Fabio Capello's appointment as England soccer coach, seeing it as a good move for the coach and his native country.
    The Italian sports newspapers were full of the Capello story on Saturday morning with headlines reading: "Capello and the English drama" and: "Capello and Beckham official wedding."
    Capello succeeds Steve McClaren, who was fired after England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008. Capello becomes the country's second foreign coach after Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001-06).
    Capello's tactical skills could be a useful asset for England, who have struggled in recent years with a series of coaches failing to make an individually talented group of players gel into a team.
    One Rome resident, Silvano Esposto, asked if the move was good for Italy's prestige, said: "We are already prestigious so we don't need it."
    But another, Consalvo D'Antonio, said: "I am glad because it is an Italian honoured abroad. It is prestigious also at an international level. A serious and responsible Italian, that does good and is the opposite of what the New York Times says, that Italy is all a mess and everything goes bad. It seems a very positive thing to me. Let's hope that many Italians will do as good as he did."
    Capello's credentials can not be matched, with the only apparent drawbacks his limited English and history of rows with players.
    He dropped David Beckham from Real Madrid's team last season when the midfielder said he was leaving for LA Galaxy but later brought the then England captain back into the team.
    Capello has had a glittering career in club management and was also a top player, winning 32 caps for his country.
    He has won nine league titles in Italy and Spain, although the two he achieved with Juventus in 2005 and 2006 were wiped from the record books because of an Italian match-fixing scandal in which he was never implicated.
    Capello took AC Milan to Champions League glory in 1994 and also won domestic titles with AS Roma and Real Madrid.
    The British press reported his annual salary would be anything between 4 million (8.07 million US dollars - 5.6 million euros) and 6 million pounds Sterling (12.1 million US dollars - 8.4 million euros) Roman Silvano Galdi thought Capello was worth it, saying: "He made a good deal with all the money he is getting, but technically he will do something thanks to the experience he has got."
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