I'm tormented by Owen obsession, says Capello
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Latest in International
Related articles
On Facebook
Sport blogs
iBet: Serena Williams looks hungry again
Serena Williams has looked right back to her best in recent weeks and more importantly she looks hun...
Manchester City top the ‘injury league’, with Manchester United bottom
The results of new research into every significant injury suffered by every Premier League footballe...
Stereotypical Germany? With the defence ‘forgotten’, think again
The blunt exposure of Germany's defensive problems in their last two friendlies has certainly served...
Michael Owen got the bleakest signal yet that he is not in Fabio Capello's England plans yesterday when the Italian described the striker as his "tormentor" because he was so fed up with people asking him when he was going to pick him.
Speaking at a conference at Coverciano, Italian football's elite centre for developing coaches, Capello defended Marcello Lippi's decision not to pick Antonio Cassano in the Italy national team despite pressure to bring him back. Capello said: "I have [Michael] Owen, I also have a tormentor. Everyone has one."
Lippi has been criticised for not reinstating Cassano, formerly the enfant terrible of Italian football, who claims to have mended his ways since returning to Italy with Sampdoria from Real Madrid.
The official line from Capello is that the door is always open to Owen. However, the England manager chose to attend West Ham's game against Arsenal yesterday. His assistant Franco Baldini watched Owen come on as a late substitute at Anfield.
The next England squad will be picked a week on Saturday for the friendly against Brazil in Qatar on 14 November. As it stands, the strikers will be Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Emile Heskey with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Theo Walcott also likely to make a strong case for inclusion.
Capello also sparked controversy in Italy when he claimed that football stadiums in England and Spain were much more pleasant environments in which to watch matches because they were free of the hooligan culture that has been such a problem in Italy. "The Ultras do what they want. In the stadium they insult everyone," Capello said in reference to the hardcore club supporters.
- 1 Serena struck down by brave Razzano and umpire furore
- 2 Olympians: They're fit and don't we just know it
- 3 'I'm joining Chelsea', says £40m Lille playmaker Eden Hazard
- 4 Fat? Really? Olympic hope laughs off official’s jibe – but others aren’t amused
- 5 Hodgson urges squad to attempt to 'enjoy' Euros
- 6 Swansea play down Brendan Rodgers meeting as Liverpool speculation mounts
- 7 Club-by-club guide: Players available on a free transfer this summer
- 8 Sports caption competition winners
- 9 Rodgers veers towards taking Liverpool job
- 10 United close in on Kagawa after missing out on Hazard
- 1 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 2 Russian Foreign Ministry slams US Ambassador as 'unprofessional' in furious Twitter barrage
- 3 Sex in dressing rooms and Play School presenters 'stoned out of their minds' - inside BBC Television Centre
- 4 Brendan Rodgers: 'The day Jose left Chelsea, it felt like someone had died'
- 5 Mark Neary: The father who opened up secret courts
- 6 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 7 Image released of naked cannibal killed by Miami police as he ate homeless man's face
- 8 United close in on Kagawa after missing out on Hazard
- 9 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
- 10 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
Grace Dent
Ireland's austerity D-Day: How much pain can it take?
Is doctors' fixation on treatment making us ill?
Return of the unacceptable face of capitalism?
Off the rails in Bermuda





Comments