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England vs Ghana: Why Only Ghanaian Fans Can Be Angry At Capello’s Idea

Angela Asante, March 29 2011,
Capello has let down millions of fans around the world with his second-string team idea ahead of England vs Ghana. But Live Soccer TV explains why only Ghanaians have the right to worry that much.
Ghanaian fans will be looking to pay back Fabio Capello for spoiling the excitement ahead of Tuesday's friendly against England.
Ghanaian fans will be looking to pay back Fabio Capello for spoiling the excitement ahead of Tuesday's friendly against England.
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So English fans are expressing their concerns at having paid so much money to see reserve players filling the positions of the Three Lions’ top stars, and do they have a point? Certainly, they do. But in a sense, should it matter that much?

The home crowd at Wembley is used to witnessing unimpressive performances from England and responding to poor displays with boos has even become a routine. The average fan may agree with me that the best way to ignore the huge price of a match ticket is to be treated with a great performance by the players on the pitch.

Honestly, have England’s top stars managed to offer that on a consistent basis since last year? What tells us that the Three Lions’ fringe players won’t perform even better than the big names?

Above all, whatever happens on Tuesday, Fabio Capello believes that it’s worth supporting the development of non-regular faces in the national team. In his message to the supporters, the manager said according to The Guardian:

“It will be interesting for the fans to see some players that they know very well. The players who will play [against Ghana] will be really good players, and I hope we can see the spirit on the pitch like in the first 30 minutes against Wales.”

Besides the idea of helping England’s fringe players develop, there is also the need to respect the agenda of the top players’ respective clubs. Fact: a Champions League fixture is arguably more important than a friendly match.

Will anyone compromise then, after hearing Gareth Barry’s opinion? The midfielder, who has been appointed to captain England against Ghana, said the following to the media:

“I know that the fans have bought their ticket to see certain individuals perform for England. But at the same time, the rest of the players [called up ahead of this international break] were in the squad from the start. They weren't just called up at the last minute.”

Whereas English supporters may comfort themselves with Capello and Barry’s excuses, Ghanaian fans will obviously remain annoyed about the situation. For them, England vs Ghana was supposed to be about testing the Black Stars’ potential against some of the world’s most popular players.

Chelsea’s John Terry and Ashley Cole in defence, Frank Lampard in midfield, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney upfront... this is the kind of prospect that Ghanaian supporters were hoping for. But as it has been confirmed, it won’t happen.

To find back the excitement that has been lost, the only thing they can dream about now is this: to have Ghana beat England and thus make Fabio Capello and English supporters regret the idea of putting fringe players for such a big friendly match.

England vs Ghana

Date: Tuesday, 29 Mar 2011
Time: 15:00 ( US/Eastern )
Competition: Friendly
Live/Repeat: Live

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