Capello's First as England Manager
Switzerland Defeated at Wembley in Fabio's Opening Match as Coach
Fabio Capello took charge of England for the first time and oversaw a victory against Switzerland at Wembley.Jenas and Wright-Phillips scored the goals to secure the win.
Fabio Capello’s first game as manager of England was at Wembley against Switzerland on Wednesday, 6th February, 2008.
50th Anniversary of Munich Air Disaster
Before the match a time of silence was held as a sign of respect for those who had lost their lives in the Munich Air Disaster. The date marked the 50th anniversary of the tragedy when eight Manchester United players and fifteen other passengers died, including club officials, the co-pilot and eight journalists. The plane crashed on take-off from Munich airport as United returned from Belgrade following a match that saw them qualify for the semi-finals of the European Cup.
Capello took over from Steve McLaren who was sacked after eighteen months in charge, following England’s failure to qualify for the European Championship Finals to be held in Austria and Switzerland during the summer.
England won their first game with Capello as manager, defeating Switzerland 2-1.
Capello's First England Team:
The team that Capello selected for his first match was:
David James, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Ashley Cole, David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney.
England Captain
Steven Gerrard the Liverpool captain was appointed captain by Capello and he led by example winning the fans’ Player of the Match award for his midfield play and the cross which set up England’s winning goal scored by second half substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Capello was deprived of a number of experienced players due to long term injuries. John Terry, the Chelsea defender, who was appointed captain by the previous manager, and his team mate, Frank Lampard were out with injury while Ledley King of Tottenham Hotspur who was selected for the squad was also unavailable. Capello also decided against including David Beckham in the squad thus denying him the opportunity of making his one hundredth international appearance for England.
Matthew Upson, the West Ham United central defender was playing his first game for England since 2004.
David Bentley of Blackburn Rovers was starting his first game for England, although he had made two previous appearances as a substitute.
England's First Goal Under Capello
The first England goal of Capello’s reign as manager was scored by Tottenham Hotspur’s Jermaine Jenas after forty minutes. This was Jenas’ first international goal in his eighteenth appearance for his country, although it was only the fourth time that he had been in the starting line-up.
After fifty seven minutes Jenas became the first player to be substituted by Capello when he was replaced by Shaun-Wright Phillips of Chelsea. Peter Crouch also appeared in place of Joe Cole and later Wayne Bridge replaced his Chelsea team mate, Ashley Cole and Owen Hargreaves came on for Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry.
The attendance at Wembley for Capello’s first game was 86,857 and the referee was Felix Brych from Germany.
