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<a href="/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/capello-index.jpg"></a>It’s a bizarre story. First, in May, before the World Cup kicked off, Fabio Capello along with a man named Chicco Merighi <a href="http://www.capelloindex.com/en/news-detail.aspx?id=0abd8c58-f552-424b-ae02-cbadf00004f2" target="_blank">launched the Capello Index</a>, an objective system that measures and evaluates the performances of players. But after the news broke of the ratings system, many people thought it would be in poor taste to have the rankings system running during the World Cup. That included the Football Association (FA) who prevented Capello from running the index during the tournament.
But now that the tournament is over, the people behind the Capello Index launched the site this morning which reveals how poor the England footballers were rated.
However, “A spokesman from the FA said that the index ratings had not been seen or approved by Mr Capello, were published without his knowledge and that his representatives have taken immediate steps to have the material taken down.”
It’s a bit ridiculous, really. Why can’t Capello have an opinion about how the players in the 2010 World Cup were rated even if it includes his England team? Isn’t relatively objective data what it is, a reflection on how a player performed at the top level? Does it look bad that Capello is associated with the index? Perhaps it seems unbefitting of an England manager, perhaps.
Now supposedly Capello is trying to get the index removed from the Internet for fear of embarrassment (too late). So in case it gets wiped away, here’s more information about how the index works and how the England players were rated during the 2010 World Cup:

According to the <a href="http://www.capelloindex.com" target="_blank">Capello Index website</a>, the Capello Index uses “a scoring system which takes account of every key event that occurs during the course of a match. The Capello Index has a unique formula that measures a player’s contribution from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. The score a player’s action generates is weighted depending on a number of factors, such as the area of the pitch in which they are completed, their impact on the match and the importance of game.”
The England players were rated as follows (out of a score of 100):
Robert Green 51.67 
David James 59.28 
Glen Johnson 57.18 
John Terry 60.48 
Ledley King 57.50 
Jamie Carragher 59.04 
Matthew Upson 60.21 
Ashley Cole 59.58 
Aaron Lennon 57.64 
Frank Lampard 58.58 
Steven Gerrard 60.98 
James Milner 59.40 
Gareth Barry 57.50 
Shaun Wright-Phillips 61.09 
Joe Cole 55.45 
Wayne Rooney 58.87 
Emile Heskey 60.15 
Jermain Defoe 62.47 
Peter Crouch did not play enough minutes to generate a mark.
In comparison, Diego Forlan achieved the highest score in the 2010 World Cup with a rating of 65.77.
Jermain Defoe scored the highest rating of the tournament for England with a 62.47. Not surprisingly, Robert Green scored a 51.67 after playing just one game and making a fatal mistake although, in fairness, he did earn back some credibility when he saved Jozy Altidore’s shot in the same game against the United States.
In the meantime, you may want to surf the <a href="http://www.capelloindex.com" target="_blank">Capello Index</a> website as much as possible this weekend before it’s removed. It’s a bit of a fuss about nothing, in my opinion. What do you think?

How Fabio Capello Rated His England Team According to Capello Index

How Fabio Capello Rated His England Team According to Capello Index - World Soccer Talk

<a href="http://view.picapp.com/default.aspx?term=lord triesman&amp;iid=8788195" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://cdn.picapp.com/ftp/Images/7/d/1/b/Football__The_3ea1.jpg?adImageId=12876317&amp;imageId=8788195" border="0" alt="Football - The England 2018 World Cup Bid Book Is Delivered to FIFA" width="500" height="333"></figure></div></a>
You may as well kiss England’s chances of winning the 2018 World Cup bid goodbye. England’s 2018 World Cup bid lay in tatters this weekend after <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278706/FA-chief-Lord-Triesman-Spain-bid-bribe-World-Cup-referees.html?ITO=1708" target="_blank">The Mail On Sunday newspaper</a> revealed that FA Chief Lord Triesman accused Spain and Russia of trying to bribe World Cup referees.
And today, it was <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8685009.stm" target="_blank">announced</a> that Triesman has quit as chairman of the 2018 World Cup bid.
In addition to that, The Mail revealed that Triesman was cheating on his wife and was involved in an intimate affair with a girl who was formerly his private secretary. This coming from a man who was supposed to be rebuilding the scandal-clad reputation that the FA has had and the disastrous 2018 World Cup bid thus far.
Lord Triesman’s intimate relationship with his former private secretary became so cozy that Triesman confided inside information about the 2018 World Cup bid process. Namely that Triesman believed that&nbsp;Spain may withdraw its bid to stage the 2018 finals if Russia, which also wants to host the event, helps it to bribe referees in next month’s World Cup tournament in South Africa.
Whether Triesman’s allegations are factual or not, it’s a damaging blow to England’s chances of winning the 2018 World Cup bid. The latest scandal certainly helps Russia’s chances of winning the race for 2018.
For the Football Association, it’s another dark day in their history. Mistake after mistake. Scandal after scandal. When will they learn?

Kiss England&#039;s World Cup 2018 Bid Goodbye

Kiss England&#039;s World Cup 2018 Bid Goodbye - World Soccer Talk

Kiss England's World Cup 2018 Bid Goodbye

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<a href="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/fa-logo.gif"></a>If you are the CEO of a company, you expect to have most if not all the power to make decisions. It’s down to you to drive the business, to solve problems and delegate where necessary. You’re in charge and you have the power to hire and fire.
However, the Chief Executive of the FA, while technically at the pinnacle of the FA’s structure, appears to have almost no power at all. All the power gets diffused through the various board members, council members and all of their vested interests. This is why Chief Exec Ian Watmore quit this week. This was a man who had worked in government so not unused to the machinations of big political machines but he’d had a gut full of it after 9 months.
It’s hard to actually know what the FA does. If you asked most fans they wouldn’t be able to tell you. Apart form dishing out fines for squabbling managers and players, what do they do?

In reality, the FA is supposed to be the governing body of English football, overseeing the game from top to bottom. However, at a professional level, the FA is all but powerless. It is the Premier League’s bitch; unable to stand up to the biggest, most monied organisation. Below that the Football League fights its own corner so well that clubs dropping out of the Premier League it will be receiving even more money and for four years instead of the current two.
So what is the FA doing? Well they wasted a ton of money on the whole Wembley fiasco – a money pit if there ever was one. They are making a ham-fisted job of the 2018 bid. They are ridden from top to bottom with vested interests all fighting their own corners – often merely hanging on to a morsel of perceived power for its own sake. Meanwhile football continues without them.
No one epitomizes this bloated redundancy more than Dave Richards. Richards – a knight of the realm for what it’s worth – is a walking, talking conflict of interest. Somehow – and we must assume it is simply through some form of old boys act, is chairman of the FA Premier League, member of the Football Association Board, chairman of the FA’s international committee, president of the European Professional Football Leagues organization, chairman of UEFA’s Professional Football Committee. Blimey.
Now that looks like a man who is keen to acquire titles. Those jobs either require very little effort or he is not committed to doing them comprehensively. Or possibly both. When Ian Watmore resigned this week, the rumours were all about his inability to work with Richards who, again it is rumoured, simply blocks any moves to change the organization which provides him with an infinite gravy train. But whether that’s true or not, Richards should not be on both the board of the FA and chairmen of the Premier League. It compromises both positions. Who does he side with in a dispute between those sides?
The FA should be fighting for football for us, the fans. It should not be craven to money. It should be protecting the English game for England fans and for every person in this country who loves football and wants to watch and play it. But it doesn’t do that. The Premier League and Football League and all the other minor league organizations do that for themselves. The Premier League likes an ineffective FA so it can do what it wants when it wants without protest. But the lower leagues and the non-professional part of the game needs a strong FA to help them, especially financially. But as the chairman of The Northern League, the second oldest league in the world, said this week – they are simply negligent and have done little to help the money in the top flights cascade down to the lower levels
Football will kick off this weekend and thousands of games will be played regardless of whether the FA have a Chief Executive or not and on one will care. That’s because the FA is an irrelevancy; merely an old boys club to tour the world on a permanent freebie, feeling important and doing exactly nothing. It’s a disgrace.

The Football Association Does F*** A**

The Football Association Does F*** A** - World Soccer Talk

<div id="attachment_758" style="width: 228px" class="wp-caption alignright"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-758" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-758" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2010/01/Gylfi-Sigurdsson_2372258.jpg" alt="Note To Self: Bring Motivation To Every Match" width="218" height="298"></figure></div>Note To Self: Bring Motivation To Every Match</div>
In a season where the passion and relevance of the English F.A cup have been in question, one team defies the odds and shows a true cup spirit. Of course I am referring to Reading, the team who have become all to familiar to football fans around the world after deservedly knocking out Liverpool in the 3rd round and Burnley are the latest top flight victim to the Royals. If you needed any sort of proof that the F.A cup can bring out the best in players, take into consideration that Reading haven’t won a game in their last six league outings and only won three league games in 2009 at their home ground, the Madjeski Stadium (and two of them came in January!). Their win in the 4th round once again got me thinking about how players become differently motivated when the competition changes and the mental challenges that players obviously face.
In the third round replay against Liverpool, at Anfield, Reading completely out played Liverpool and there were several occasions where the players were so confident that they were tricking and nut-megging their way through Carragher and Agger – two experienced decorated defenders. Yet we never see play like this from Reading in the league and they’re often guilty of dropping their heads when things don’t go their way. They’re a talented set of players, obviously the team isn’t of the same calibre as the previous season, but this team shouldn’t be in the relegation zone and that is clear when we know that they are capable of beating the likes of Liverpool and Burnley who are in the league above them.
So it comes down to confidence and belief, one week you’re in the league and struggling to garner belief that you can play to the best of your ability and the next week the cup comes about and you have all the confidence in the world. But why? I’m not sure even a Reading player could answer you that, it’s almost as if there are two Reading teams at the moment and although the scalps of two Premiership teams are impressive, they need to transfer this confidence they get playing in the cup over to the league otherwise Reading may not be starting next seasons cup run from the 3rd round…
It’s a strange phenomenon not only in football but psychology itself; the aspect of motivation is something fascinating and strange. From an outsiders view, it doesn’t make much sense how Reading can get beat by Plymouth (a team below them in the league) 4-1, then soon after outplay Liverpool – twice. Players are obviously very motivated to take on the top teams with the top players as if to prove a point to the football world, yet why do motivation and confidence levels change so dramatically because the name of the competition changes?
Now Reading come up against Sheffield United in the league, away; not an easy game for an team in the Championship. And I wonder if Reading will return to their poor league form or will be inspired by their cup performance. They recently played quite well against Nottingham Forrest away from home but the punters will no doubt prefer the Blades. This also raises the question of how much is ability down to confidence and motivation? Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo obviously have a lot of confidence in their play and the raw talent to match it, but could there be players that maybe could have been a lot better if they had just played with confidence and motivation. I believe that the more you think about motivation and confidence, the more it hinders your play and maybe the likes of Kaka, Ronaldo and Messi don’t even consider their motivation and instead try to focus on how their actual talent – so as if motivation takes a back seat therefore is constantly high.
You look at the England goalkeeper situation at the moment and people constantly mention the word ‘confidence’. David Seaman was England’s number one for years and I can’t ever remember his confidence being questioned, whereas people are worried that Robert Green is losing his concentration because of all the goals he is conceding. Seaman didn’t need confidence – he was just ability and although I’m not questioning how good Robert Green is but how good can you say England’s goalkeeper is if he loses faith in his own ability? A lack of confidence can ruin any player.

Am I Reading This Right? Royals Into 5th Round &#8211; Motivation Phenomenon

Am I Reading This Right? Royals Into 5th Round - Motivation Phenomenon - World Soccer Talk

Am I Reading This Right? Royals Into 5th Round – Motivation Phenomenon

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As it’s World Cup draw week, I thought I’d share one of my favourite football stories with you, about the first ever World Cup, though it was only for domestic sides at the time.I heard this story for the first time when I was nine, due to it being made in to a television drama in 1981, called <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Cup-Captains-Tale-VHS/dp/B00004D2XM" target="_blank">a Captain’s Tale.</a> It made a real impression on me, because it seemed so far fetched, yet was true and here’s how it happened.
After the success of the first Olympic football tournament at the London Olympics of 1908, a gentleman by the name of Sir Thomas Lipton had an idea to have a World Cup. Whilst the Olympic tournament had been for amateur players only, Lipton wanted the best professional club sides in the world to compete for a trophy, which would be called the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy. He approached the English F.A. who refused to have anything to do with such a nonsense.

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It was sad to say, but in those days, the English F.A. tended to look down at most countries in the world and upheld it’s insular and rather outdated opinions for far too long. Suffice to say, they refused to play in the first 3 official world cups, as of course, England believed they were the best in the world and had no need to prove it by playing horrible little foreign teams. Maybe in those first 3 World Cups, England could have added another trophy to the meagre one World Cup win in the last 80 years, we’ll never know but it wouldn’t have hurt to have a go.
So, rebuffed by the English F.A., an employee of Sir Thomas Lipton suggested an amateur side be chosen, as the F.A couldn’t interfere and a request went out to the teams in <a href="http://www.northernleague.org/view_div1_tables.php">the Northern League</a>, which is still functioning and is part of the English non league pyramid system. The only side that came back with interest were West Auckland F.C., a side made up of coal miners from Durham. So, Lipton accepted them as England’s representatives and the team had to travel to Turin.
<div style="width: 444px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/football.co.uk/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Thomas_Johnstone_Lipton.jpg" alt="Sir Thomas Lipton" width="434" height="393"></figure></div>Sir Thomas Lipton</div>
Now, somehow, this little team of coalminers managed to raise the majority of the funds required to travel all the way to Turin, most of them pawning personal possessions to enable them to reach their destination but it proved a sacrifice worth making. Drawn against top German side, Stuttgarter Sportfruende, in the semi final,&nbsp; Auckland ran out 2-0 winners and amazingly went on to beat F.C. Winterthur 2-0 too to become the first winners of the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy.
Returning to Durham as heroes, the club were once again invited to defend the trophy in 1911, but this time the opposition were a little more familiar. Facing the defending champions in the semi-finals were F.C. Zurich, but once again the amateurs would not buckle to the better equipped side and once again triumphed 2-0. This then set up a mesmerising final against the home side, Italian giants Juventus but amazingly West Auckland thrashed them 6-1.
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Under the rules of the tournament, West Auckland were allowed to keep the trophy, but this is were the tale takes a sad turn. Almost bankrupted in no small part due to the travelling to Italy twice in two years, the team had to pawn the trophy to their landlady to cover debts but the side still went under in 1912.The club reformed in 1914 as <a href="http://www.westaucklandtownfc.co.uk/" target="_blank">West Auckland Town</a> and returned to the Northern League where they still remain to this day.
As for the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, it remained in the landlady’s family until 1960, when an appeal by the village of West Auckland saw them buy it back. Yet tragedy struck the club once more, when it was stolen in 1994 and has never been found since. A replica was commissioned and that now stands in the clubhouse, securely held a safe cabinet. This year also saw the club play Juventus in a friendly to <a href="http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/West-Auckland-village-football-team-take-on-Juventus-to-celebrate-winning-the-first-World-Cup-1909-article27070.html" target="_blank">celebrate the centenary of that first win</a>, which they lost 7-1, but fair play on Juventus for enabling the club to celebrate what must go down as one of the strangest stories in English football.

West Auckland F.C., The First World Champions!

West Auckland F.C., The First World Champions! - World Soccer Talk

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FA chairman David Treisman <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/08/premierleague">mentioned introducing a salary cap</a>, to combat the “very tangible dangers” of the current financial climate.&nbsp; Premier League clubs have a combined £3 billion of debt.&nbsp; But, is wage expenditure really the most prominent issue?
Yes, players make an absurd amount of money for wearing short pants and playing a kid’s game.&nbsp; However, wages are not driving debt.
In the 2007-8 season, Kaka was the highest paid player in the world, earning just over £7m in salary per year.&nbsp; John Terry, the highest paid player in England that season, earned roughly £6.5m.&nbsp; It’s not a small sum, but, in an environment where a middling player, such as David Bentley, commands a £17m transfer fee, it’s not a particularly significant one.

Moreover, if compared to American sports, football salaries are, if anything, undervalued compared to the revenue earned by Premier League clubs. 
There are far more significant debt factors.
American purchases of Manchester United and Liverpool, funded by credit, saddled those clubs with hundreds of millions of debt.&nbsp; Arsenal assumed hundreds of millions of debt with the construction of the Emirates stadium.&nbsp; Chelsea spend profligately, funded by an oil-rich sugar daddy.
A salary cap might earn the FA brownie points with embittered fans (and owners), but it’s not a sensible mechanism to combat debt.

Would A Salary Cap Combat Debt?

Would A Salary Cap Combat Debt? - World Soccer Talk

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