There was a whiff of rebellion in the air at England’s World Cup training camp on Sunday as Fabio Capello’s disgruntled squad prepared to face Slovenia in a match that will make or break their campaign in South Africa.
Former skipper John Terry insisted the players were united in support of Capello but the tone and content of some of his comments sounded far closer to a rallying call for a mutiny against the Italian’s regime.
The Chelsea defender effectively confirmed that all is not well at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus by revealing that he expected frank exchanges at a meeting with Capello scheduled for Sunday evening.
Asked about his Chelsea teammate Nicolas Anelka being sent home by France, Terry joked: “I see Nico was sent home for voicing his opinion and maybe a few of us will be sent home after this evening.” The centreback added: “If we feel something has to change, we owe it to the country and the manager to say it in that meeting tonight. If it upsets him or any other player, so what.”
England go into Wednesday’s match with Slovenia in Port Elizabeth needing a win to be sure of advancing to the knockout stage of the competition after a 1-1 draw with the United States and a goalless draw with Algeria that Terry described as “unacceptable”. Capello has been widely criticised for failing to give Joe Cole even a few minutes of action in the first two matches. That is reported to be one of the issues concerning England’s senior players and Terry's effusive assessment of what his Chelsea teammate offers suggests those reports are accurate. “Joe coming back from injury was a great boost for us at Chelsea and he got a goal for us at Man Utd that was vital,” Terry said.