While Spain’s buildup will still have an air of celebration for the first match since winning the World Cup, Italy, France and England’s preparations for football friendlies this week will be focussed on repairing tarnished reputations.
Exactly a month after Spain beat the Netherlands in the World Cup final, dozens of international friendlies will be played on Wednesday.
Among them, Sergio Batista will be auditioning to replace Diego Maradona when Argentina’s interim coach takes charge of the team against Ireland.
When the Spaniards arrive at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, coach Vicente del Bosque hopes their attention will have turned to defending their European title. After all, Euro 2012 qualifying gets under way next month.
Despite the looming start of the Spanish season, Del Bosque had no qualms about calling up seven Barcelona players who helped Spain clinch their first ever World Cup.
“We are pretty considerate and sensitive to clubs’ demands,” Del Bosque said, “but I don’t think these are sufficient motives for us not to maintain continuity after the World Cup.”
Many of their European rivals, however, will be only too happy to consign South Africa 2010 to history.
No country rivalled France for such a disastrous tournament. All 23 squad members from that campaign have been dropped for Wednesday’s match in Norway as a collective punishment for their training strike in South Africa.
Laurent Blanc, who replaced Raymond Domenech as head coach after France crashed out in the first round without winning a match, has summoned 13 uncapped players for his 22-man squad.
“We absolutely need to win this game,” Blanc said. “This is a good opportunity for all the players I called up to show they have qualities and that they can be a factor in the future.”
The match marks the return of Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, AS Roma defender Philippe Mexes, Marseille midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa and Arsenal’s Samir Nasri, who didn’t go to South Africa.
None of the players who won the European under-19 championship last month were selected because of their lack of experience.
“They are not ready,” Blanc said. “I need players who are indisputable starters with their clubs.”
Like France, 2006 champions Italy slipped out of the World Cup at the group stage without winning.
Cesare Prandelli, who has replaced Marcello Lippi as Azzurri coach, has called up Mario Balotelli and Antonio Cassano, who were both overlooked for the World Cup.
Prandelli has urged his players to use Tuesday’s friendly against Ivory Coast in London “to take risks – to overcome our fears.”
The next day in London the spotlight will be on England, who – unlike Italy and France – managed to at least win a match in South Africa and reach the second round.
There, though, the English experienced a humiliating 4-1 loss to fierce rivals Germany which led to coach Fabio Capello retaining just 10 players from that 23-man squad for the friendly against Hungary at Wembley.
But Capello’s hopes of restoring some order were diminished on Sunday when defender Wes Brown and goalkeeper Paul Robinson – both 30 – declined selection and announced their international retirements.
Capello was considered lucky to hold on to his job after the World Cup. Maradona wasn’t so charmed, despite the often-erratic former star managing to steer Argentina to the quarterfinals before a 4-0 loss to the Germans.
Maradona would have been handed a new four-year deal had he not insisted on his entire staff also retaining their jobs.
Batista has the game against Ireland and another against Spain on September 7 to convince officials that he should get the job full time. The national youth coach is already talking about replicating the style of the world and European champions.
“It is good to copy Spain’s system,” Batista said. “I like Barcelona’s game and it’s what I want more than anything else for Argentine football, but the main priority will be to play as a team.”
In other matches, the United States on Wednesday host Brazil and the following day Netherlands play Ukraine and Uruguay take on Angola in Lisbon.
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