It may seem pedantic to run the rule over the translation provided at Fabio Capello’s first press conference as England manager, yet, given the Italian’s rudimentary English and the penchant of the media to seize upon fragments of sentences – sometimes without providing the context – and turning them into headlines, it is probably a worthwhile exercise.
The issue of Capello’s command of English is, arguably, marginal to the team’s performances. After all, Guus Hiddink, a Dutchman, speaks no Russian, but that did not stop Russia from qualifying ahead of England for Euro 2008.
But secondhand communication can lead to pitfalls and the first obvious one came yesterday. Given the history between David Beckham and Capello – which the England manager described as “contrasting” –