Capello blames disallowed goal

Fabio Capello refused to blame his players for England's woeful exit from the FIFA World Cup™ at the hands of Germany.

Instead he focussed on the decision to disallow Frank Lampard's equalising 'goal'.

England had been outplayed and were 2-1 down when Lampard's effort hit the underside of Manuel Neuer's bar and bounced down a clear yard over the line.

Assistant referee Mauricio Espinosa failed to spot it, though, and instead of drawing level at 2-2, England capitulated in the second half to lose 4-1, their worst ever World Cup defeat.
"It was one of the most important things in the game," Capello told BBC1.
"We scored two goals and at that moment, I saw Germany suffer a lot.
"The [disallowed] goal was very important. We could have played a different style.
"We played I think well at 2-1, but after the third goal it was a little bit disappointing.

"Germany is a big team. They played a good game. We made some mistakes. The referee made bigger mistakes.

"Little things decide the result always."

"They scored the third and fourth on the counter-attack and we didn't play after that."

The Italian was at a loss to explain why his players had performed so far below expectations, other than cite their general tiredness after a long season.

"Look, we probably arrived a little bit tired at the end of the season.
"But after the game that they played against Slovenia, we suffered from Germany's speed today.
"But I say again, I am sure that a big mistake from the referee stopped us from going forward."
Capello is now to seek urgent talks with Club England chairman Sir David Richards about his future.
His position is bound to come under intense scrutiny only five weeks after having a clause removed from his £6million-a-year deal that would allow either party to terminate the contract after the World Cup.
"I want to speak with the chairman and then decide my future," said Capello.
"I need to know whether the FA have confidence in me or not."

When asked if he would resign, he replied: "Absolutely not."

The early indications are Capello will remain in his job.
Senior sources within the Club England camp who will determine whether the Italian stays or not have indicated that their stance on Capello - that he is the right man to take the Three Lions forward - has not shifted as a result of one single, albeit controversial result.

From espn.com

Relief for Africa as Ghana keep World Cup hopes alive

                        Ghana were the only team to make it into the knock-out stages of the last tournament



By Joshua Howat Berger (AFP) – 1 hour ago
JOHANNESBURG — Africa rallied behind Ghana on Thursday after the Black Stars kept the continent's dreams of football glory alive by making it through to the second round of the first World Cup on African soil.
Africa had faced the ignominy of having no representatives in the business end of the tournament for the first time in 28 years after a string of failures by the continent's five other representatives.
But the Black Stars limited three-times champions Germany to a 1-0 victory in Johannesburg late Wednesday, a result which enabled them to stagger into second place in Group D and thus line up a showdown with the United States.
"The African National Congress congratulates Ghana for representing the entire continent by proceeding to the next round of this 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament," said South Africa's ruling party in a statement.
"Well-done Ghana for doing Africa proud and all of us as Africans proud."
Tournament organisers were also desperate for at least one African team to make it through to the knock-out stage given it is the first time the tournament is being held on the world's poorest continent.
"We wish to congratulate Ghana for keeping the African flag and the representation high in the tournament and we wish them luck in their next game against the USA," said Rich Mkhondo, spokesman for the local organising committee.
"This is an African World Cup, and we have always maintained that we wish and hope that the African teams will do well, and they are making us very proud."
Ghana, the first African nation to win its independence, was the continent's trail-blazer at the last tournament when they also were the only team to make it into the knock-out stages.
They managed to beat the US at the 2006 tournament in Germany and a repeat performance would give them a decent chance of making the semi-finals with either Uruguay or South Korea standing in their way.
No African team has ever made it to the semi-finals of a World Cup, and the hosts have been quick to transfer their allegiance to Ghana in the wake South Africa's first round exit on Tuesday.
"Ghana Fly the Flag for Africa", read a headline in the Johannesburg-based daily The Star, adding that they had provided "some much-needed relief for Africa ... whose teams have been disastrous."
Although a record six African teams qualified for the tournament, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria and South Africa have all been knocked out and Ivory Coast are almost certainly doomed to lose out to Brazil and Portugal.
Reigning champions Italy are also struggling after drawing against lowly New Zealand and Paraguay in their opening games and need a victory over Slovakia Thursday to be sure of making the last 16.
Two of Europe's other big guns, former champions Germany and England, have already booked their ticket to the second round and will meet in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
English newspapers are already savouring the prospect of a new battle between the old enemies. England won the 1966 World Cup against Germany but have since suffered heartache agains the same team -- including their defeat on penalties in the 1990 semi-finals.