By Andrew Warshaw
July 26 – Former England manager Fabio Capello as expected was named as Russia’s new head coach today on a two-year deal aimed qualifying for the Brazil 2014 World Cup finals – four years before the Russians host the event.
Capello (pictured above) succeeds Dick Advocaat who left after the 2012 European Championship when Russia were surprisingly knocked out in the group phase after starting with a 4-1 trouncing of the Czech Republic.
Capello, with one of the best club CVs in world football, left the England job after an up-and-down four years culminating a disagreement with the Football Association (FA) over John Terry being stripped of the captaincy
“After I had finished working in England, I was angry, and I wanted to continue working,” Capello told the Russians.
“I really want to achieve your goals and fight for the Cup in Brazil.”
The former AC Milan, Roma and Real Madrid boss, out of work since February, was given plenty of reassurance by Russian Football Union President Nikita Simonyan.
“The Russian Football Union will not interfere with the head coach – if Fabio decides to make (Andrey) Arshavin captain, so be it,” Simonyan said with more than a hint that the federation was displeased with the skipper’s performances in Poland and Ukraine.
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