England 1:2 France - International Friendly, Wembley, Att 85,495. Another false dawn for England. Another French dressing-down. The euphoria following the Three Lions' impressive Euro 2012 qualifying wins over Bulgaria and Switzerland has been replaced by a familiar torpor. A dismal 0-0 qualifying draw at home to Montenegro followed by last night's 1-2 friendly reverse to France have sharpened the Fleet Street knives once more for Fabio Capello. The opposition was pertinent. The French team collapsed in mutiny in South Africa, were eliminated by a weak host nation and flew home before the cartes postales. England had it bad but France a lot worse and are still lacking aces Franck Ribéry and Patrice Evra, in exile alongside bête noire Nicolas Anelka, who has probably played his last game for his country . Yet Laurent Blanc's men played yesterday with verve and élan, like they had turned over a brand new leaf, and showed hints of a real renaissance for a soccer nation that was on top of the world a decade ago. The hosts on the other hand were still warbling from an old hymn book of tired tunes. To be fair to Capello, it was a friendly and not an eliminator, but the warning signs were loud and clear once more, a mournful drone of English shortcomings echoing around the vast arena. Ball control, positional awareness, tactical acumen, imagination - why are these sk ills still so hard for English footballers to learn? We should not blame the players - they have not been taught pr operly. The youthful replacements drafted in fell short with the exception of Newcastle's Andy Carroll , who had a mature and promising debut as a lone target man, bagging air superiority from the off and troubling the French defence at low level on at least one occasion. The 4-2-3-1 showed Capello had learnt the lesson of Bloemfontein and ditched his static 4-4-2, but too many of its practitioners failed to function. Theo Walcott again showed he has pace and control but little else, Kieron Gibbs and Jordan Henderson proved they had been fast-tracked into the nationa l team too quickly while Gareth Barry, not long ago the subject of a great transfer tussle, was as lethargic and ineffective as he had been in South Africa. The insertion of Ashley Young and Adam Johnson on the wings after the break, along with Peter Crouch's goalscoring cameo, helped turn the blue tide but equally showed the talent pool is rather shallow at the Football Association. The fact is England need ten Jack Wilsheres pushing for selection. A (French?) revolution is what is required, with a huge increase in the number of coaches and a wholesale shift in mentality to emphasize skills acquisition and tactical intelligence above winning at youth level. Dennis Bergkamp , exquisitely gifted in a way most Englishmen are not, believes the ages of 8 to 12 are the key ones for developing talent, years when most English kids are not being properly schooled in the game. At Wembley, the blue shirts did the basics bett er than the whites - controlling and distributing accurately at speed while being aware of the movement of their teammates. English football is still obsessed by the individual instead of the collective, as a cursory glance at any tabloid's back pages will confirm. "Skill-wise at the moment, the English players are really, really, not at the level", David Ginola said to the BBC post-match. Quite so, England had no-one with the sublime dribbling skills of Samir Nasri , the elegant playmaking of Yoann Gourcuff or the penetrative power of Florent Malouda on display at Wembley. The morning after the debacle brought a modicum of hope with the belated announcement that the National Football Centre had at last been given the green light after years of stasis. France's Clairefontaine site has acquired mythic status, with Italy's Coverciano not far behind. St George's Park in Burton-on-Trent will be a huge advance from previous bases at Bisham Abbey and Lilleshall, with the ambitious goal of its coaches training a quarter of a million people to teach football by 2018. The only hope remains in the future. For the next couple of tournaments we can reasonably expect the motherland of the game to show flashes of hope but then hit that invisible forcefield known as the quarter-finals, while fans and media alike blame particular players or coaches for another England disaster with its roots in youth coaching. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Reports today are suggesting that moneybags, Manchester City, have made a "big money" offer for Aston Villa's versatile midfielder, James Milner. £20m+ is the figure being quoted. It's been a fairly meteoric rise for a player that until very recently many still considered as average at best. The season just gone has been Milner's finest to date but that's against some average competition. He showed promise at Leeds but became one dimensional, he flattered to deceive at Newcastle where he habitually wasted possession, he was then shunted out to Villa on loan and after a year back at Newcastle in their relegation season he signed for Villa permanently for £12m. This is where Milner finally began to find his feet. He was perhaps unfortunate at Newcastle that the man who signed him, the late Sir Bobby Robson, was unceremoniously sacked and replaced by Graeme Souness who wasn't keen on Milner's attributes. It was David O'Leary who took him to Villa on loan with reasonable success but it is under Martin O'Neill that he has flourished. Only 23 he has already played under 13 different managers (including caretakers) and cites the stability at Villa as a big reason for his improvement. What shined through Milner's Newcastle years and protracted move to Villa was a calm level headed attitude learned from senior players around him during his evolving career. This attitude has seen Milner become the mature player he is today. Able to understand and carry out instruction, he allies this with an understanding of football that enables him to play in several positions. These are precisely the qualities that England coach Fabio Capello likes in a player and precisely the reason why Milner is a cert for the final 23 that will travel to South Africa. His current form and performances over the past year cannot be argued with and he has eclipsed the likes of club mate Ashley Young. He fully deserves his place in the squad but is he good enough for the first team? That remains to be seen and he is perhaps more of a safety valve to cover a few positions and be available to protect a lead should the need arise. He doesn't have the creativity of Joe Cole or Steven Gerrard. He doesn't have the midfield goal threat of Frank Lampard. He doesn't have the blistering pace of Aaron Lennon or Theo Walcott. He doesn't even cross as well as Adam Johnson. He does most things very well but jack of all trades is often master of none and I don't see a starting position for Milner. He is probably the direct replacement for Owen Hargreaves; a confident assured penalty taker (another reason to have him in reserve given England's major tournament shootout record) who can cover the full length of both flanks and play right through midfield. Fair play to the lad, he's proved me wrong and the next couple of steps in his career could see him become a World Cup winner and key component of the most ambitious club side in the world. Now that's progress. BruiseLee Tags World Cup Pens World Cup football

World Soccer News for week of 03/23 Slaven Bilic vows to keep coaching Croatia The Croatian coach Slaven Bilic has said he will stay on the national team's bench beyond the European Championship in spite of a sweet offer from Germany's Hamburger SV. Bilic said that at a press conference putting an end to speculations caused by the Croatian FA's inertia. The FA inexplicably hesitated to renew the supremely popular coach after the momentous win at Wembley last November, fuelling the nation's concern Bilic could go to accept a financially more profitable offer abroad. "I'll stay as Croatia's coach. Salary doesn't matter to me. Let them give me a bianco contract and I'm going to sign it," said the former West Ham and Everton defender. "I do want to work in a club, but it will not be before 2010," added Bilic. What the fans think of FA's slowness to tie the coach for at least two more years has been reflected in a poll conducted by Vecernji list dails. No less than 77% of the voters believe the FA's president Vlatko Markovic should quit if Bilic goes. Record ban for a Chilean coach Marcelo Vega, former coach to the youth team of Chile's Santiago Morning was hit by a record 50 games ban for assaulting a referee. The former international was found guilty by the FA for knocking out the ref at the game between his team and Universidad de Chile on March 8th. This is the heaviest ban ever imposed in the history of the Chilean soccer. Club's vicepresident Luis Faundez called upon Vega to "leave the club in order not to cause more damage." The 37-year-old coach collected 30 caps and one goal in the national team between 1991 and 1998 playing as a midfielder. Capello recalls Beckham for France friendly David Beckham will finally get his chance of making the 100th appearance for England as Fabio Capello showed him mercy after several months of uncertainty. Capello, who was at odds with Becks during their spell at Real Madrid, had said he had left out the former captain for the Switzerland game due to his lack of fitness. Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson has also won his return to the national side instead of the injured Scott Carson, Liverpool's keeper on loan to Aston Villa. On the other hand, other two in-form Spurs' players, Jermaine Jenas and Jermain Defoe, have been left out by the Italian coach, traditionally determined to keep the public guessing about his moves and motives. Donadoni's future at Italy uncertain Roberto Donadoni has not reached a new deal with the Italian FA, whose leaders say they will not consider extending his contract before the end of the European championship. "The issue will be dealt with when the current coach's contract expires on July 18th," said FA's chairman Giancarlo Abate. The man growing increasingly linked to the spot is Carlo Ancelotti, whose era at AC Milan is inexorably reaching the finale. Ancelotti has admitted he is interested in coaching his country but not before 2010. "I believe Donadoni deserves to stay. He has worked well so far and I trust he will do well at the European championship and the next World Cup," said Ancelotti. Ever the fair player, Milan's coach does not want to make an impression of being too eager to replace Donadoni, his former teammate in club and the national team. Athletic's keeper has his head smashed by a Betis fan The Spanish FA has punished Betis with two home games behind closed doors and awarded their game against Athletic to the visitors, confirming the scoreline of 1-2 prevailing before an incident forced the referee to signal the end. With 23 minutes remaining, a 40-year-old Betis fan threw a full plastic bottle in Athletic's keeper Armando's face. The Bask goalie suffered a deep cut and an injury to the left eye, which doctors fear may lose its function due to the detachment of retina. The fans helped the guards and the police catch the perpetrator, who was arrested and released on 3000 euros bail. Betis hoped the FA would enable them to play the remaining 23 minutes of the game, but the authorities would not heed their pleas remembering last year's incident in which the former Sevilla's coach Juande Ramos was also hit with a bottle thrown from the stands. The perpetrator of that incident will likely be sentenced just to a hefty fine since Ramos was not seriously injured. The recent bottle-thrower may be looking at a prison sentence should Armando lose the sight on the injured eye. Francesco Totti prefers Champions League to scudetto If he could chose, Roma's captain Francesco Totti would rather win the Champions' League than the Italian league, since an European club trophy is what is missing from his trophy room. "To win a title would be special because it would mean overtaking Inter, but I would prefer the Champions League as I have never won a international trophy at the club level.Who knows, maybe it would also boost my chances of achieving the Golden Ball. Still, if the performance at the European Championship turns out to be decisive for the Golden Ball, then I will not win it because I'm not going back to the national team," said the forward who has not played for the Azzurri after the victorious World Cup in Germany. On Roma's path to the European title lies, lest we forget, Manchester United. Copyright Soccerphile & Ozren Podnar Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

"There are not many candidates because it looks a bit like a crocodile that opens the mouth and says: 'Jump into that.' Once he's in there, he's eaten. And once you have eaten four, five says: 'No, maybe I don't jump in there.'" So went the words of Arsene Wenger, the best coach working in England at present. In the old days, before the savaging of Bobby Robson and Graham Taylor by the tabloids and the realization that the real money and chances of success were to be found in the Premier League and not the international game, the nation’s best coach would have leapt at the chance of managing England.