France wilting

Hard to find a Euro 2004 favorite given the defending champion's decline

By Brian Glanville, World Soccer magazine

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IF ever there were a blessing in disguise, it was surely England's wretched last hour in Manchester against Japan. A 1-1 draw that could well have been a defeat all too clearly showed the futility of Sven-Goran Eriksson's deeply perverse "diamond" formation.

The formation succeeded in wasting the talents of two of England's most crucial players, Frank Lampard and Stephen Gerrard. Lampard was in deep central midfield, which at once nullified his powers of playmaking and goal scoring while exposing his weaknesses as a defender.

Gerrard was out on the left flank, though he longs by his own admission to play centrally, where with his power, technique and drive he can exert a much greater influence on the game.

All of which we saw when Eriksson, having insisted he meant to stick to his diamond, abruptly changed his mind and went back to the old familiar 4-4-2. Which also enabled Paul Scholes to move out profitably to the left, where, though he is essentially a right-footed player, he flourished against Iceland, even if he did miss an early sitter.

The revival of Rooney, after such a poor and petulant show against Japan was another emphatic plus. We can be sure that France won't risk the flagging Marcel Desailly against him and the quicksilver Michael Owen in an opening game that now seems open indeed.

For France have been wilting, even if their unbeaten record under Jacques Santini stretches all the way back to the aftermath of their disastrous World Cup, after which Santini took over. The fact that he will now be off to Spurs has incensed French officialdom, though not Michel Platini, but by all reports hasn't perturbed the players who sympathize with their coach -- who would have been out of contract after Euro 2004 and will make much more money at Tottenham.

As we know, the French made a pig's ear of their dealings with Santini's predecessor, giving him a new contract before the World Cup finals and then sacking him, at a cost of £350,000 when France failed.

That laborious 1-0 win against a Ukrainian side without several key men, above all Andriy Shevchenko, was an ill omen for the French and a poor day for Thierry Henry who, remember -- for all his achievements this season -- was a flop in the 2002 World Cup.

England in this group should at least be capable of second place, which would take them into the next round, though Croatia -- winners in Denmark last Saturday -- cannot be taken lightly.

Meanwhile both Germany and Holland, who now meet, had shocking results last weekend, Holland deservedly beaten by an Irish team without Roy Keane and Damien Duff, Germany humiliated by the modest Hungarians at home.

Portugal, though unconvincing in friendlies against England and Italy, had an easy weekend win and with home advantage, plus the charge given them by Porto's victory in the European Cup, should be capable of better things than usual.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be an elusive handful for any defense. Deco, the naturalized Brazilian, will be a lurking danger behind the front line and the Porto squad provide abundant ability.

Spain, the parts -- like Holland's -- eternally greater than the whole will challenge them for one of the top two group places. Interesting to see that the Spaniards have very properly recalled Fernando Morientes after his achievements on loan in Monaco. There's the usual abundant talent in the team, though will the back line and keeper hold out?

With that eternal survivor Gianni Trapattoni putting World Cup miseries and defensive excesses behind him, his Italian team should be capable of progress, though it remains to be seen whether it can do as well as in 2000 when its tiring team went down at the death to France.

There is plentiful talent in attack, even if the injured Pippo Inzaghi cannot be there. Bobi Vieri, alias The Magnificent Sulk, remains far and away the Italians' most prolific scorer; Francesco Totti is showing his 2000 form rather than 2002 (no smashing up of dressing rooms this time one assumed), while the precocious maverick striker Antonio Cassano from Bari, now combining so well with Totti for Roma, will presumably be used.

Overall, given the evident decline of France, it is difficult to see a true favorite. The real threat to England may well come from their hooligan fans, impervious to any kind of appeal or any restraint.

From all over England they swarm for the violence and however many are kept or turned back, there will always alas be a new generation of them. Eriksson has rightly appealed to them, but such words will forever fall on deaf cauliflower ears.

THE managerial merry-go-round spins on: Fabio Capello to Juventus, a great surprise, as was that of Santini joining Tottenham. Less surprising was the somewhat hubristic arrival of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

From the very first, he has led with his chin, but he should have avoided replying so grandiosely to Claudio Ranieri's admitted, if mild, provocation. Chelsea just now are hardly the flavor of the month.

Though Ranieri went awry in Monaco, the fact is that he has been shamefully undermined since last summer with those two denied but evident approaches to Eriksson. The ultimate whispering campaign against him was a disgrace.

I still wonder how Mourinho, for all his undoubted talents, will fare with a polyglot team, as opposed to the homogeneous (Dmitri Alenitchev apart) squad he handled so well at Porto. Lurking behind him is Peter Kenyon, who may well find he has to confront a hostile press after the Ranieri affair, and of course the "oligarch" Roman Abramovich, of whose Russian activities we'll soon be hearing more when the exhaustive audit commission's investigation of the last 10 years of privatizations will be made known.

Living as luxuriously as he does, one assumed Abramovich has got enough money out of Russia to maintain his extravagant lifestyle.

Russia's financial laws are so obscure that the government can virtually make them up as it goes along. The richest of all the oligarchs is still on goal and due for trail on dubious grounds. The huge Yokus oil company is threatened with bankruptcy, so high and heavy are the taxes imposed on it. And Sibneft, the chief source of Abramovich's wealth? We'll have to see.

As times goes by, Ken Bates' controversial reign at Stamford Bridge seems quite placid. Oh, and Argentina's Walter Samuel declares Chelsea have no soul! He's preferred Real Madrid.

IT was no real surprise that Fabio Capello should jump ship from Roma, who are in the deepest financial turmoil; but no one expected Juve to take him on as the successor to Marcello Lippi, given his brushes with the Turin club.

Last February on the eve of a Juve-Roma match he declared that he would never manage the Turin club. And when Juve's president Antonio Giraudo accused Roma of "financial doping," Fabio replied that "sporting doping" was worse. A barbed reference to the problems Juve had had over alleged illicit stimulation of their players.

But football is football these days; all this has been forgotten and forgiven, and Fabio who has some interesting arrivals in prospect, such as Lecce's lively Uruguayan striker Chevanton, and can now manage the club for which he once impressively played.

Brian Glanville is Britain's most celebrated football writer. He also writes a monthly column in World Soccer magazine. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.

His latest book, a fully updated edition of THE STORY OF THE WORLD CUP is available in all good bookshops. Readers of worldsoccer.com can buy this highly acclaimed history of the World Cup and enjoy a 10% discount by clicking here.