World Cup: France’s discord spreading? England says no
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
But Lampard denied it was a heated meeting with Capello and stressed that all the players were behind the Italian coach.
‘I understand what John is saying because he’s passionate,’ the Associated Press quoted Lampard as saying. ‘He’s like that as a player. All 23 players deal with things differently. Some people don’t want to say too much, some people want to hit things head on. Everyone appreciates that.
‘The messages I got yesterday from people was that John was saying some positive things. I think we will try and hit things head on on the training ground.’
England is on the brink of going out of the World Cup in the opening round for the first time since 1958 after draws with the United States and Algeria. The English need to beat Slovenia in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on Wednesday to ensure themselves a spot in the round of 16.
The latest problem to hit England’s beleaguered team is the fallout from comments by Terry that some players had their own meeting to discuss grievances with team management. There were reports in the British media Monday that the former captain’s teammates had told him to keep quiet. All this came at the same time the France’s team staged a mutiny, turning on their coach and refusing to practice.
‘I don’t think anyone really likes to give away much about meetings. They are an in-house thing,’ Lampard said. ‘Really the manager just spoke. We watched the Algeria game, which we all know was a disappointing performance. We addressed that game, the manager addressed that.
‘It’s been completely overdone about a crisis meeting.’
But Terry also said that, after the game in Cape Town, some of the players talked over the match among themselves.
Although he did not reveal exactly what they said, some media reported they decided to tell Capello the team needed to play with a 4-5-1 instead of 4-4-2 formation, with Wayne Rooney up front on his own and Joe Cole added to the midfield.
The reports said that the rest of the players were furious with Terry for revealing details of the meeting, which appeared to undermine Capello’s running of the team.
Because heavy rain has left the playing surface at Nelson Mandela Stadium in poor condition, England and Slovenia will not be able to train on it Tuesday.
-- Kevin Baxter, in Johannesburg, South Africa
The Associated Press contributed to this report.