The Football Association could confirm that Capello will stay as the England coach until his contract expires in 2012 as early as Saturday.
Instead of the two weeks of reflection that was originally announced in the wake of the humiliating record 4-1 defeat by Germany, the decision to keep Capello has already been made in principle.
There will be no emergency board convened, no waiting for the next scheduled Executive Board meeting on July 15; instead acting FA chairman Roger Burden, representing the amateur side of the 11-man board, and Sir Dave Richards, monitoring the opinions of the professional game, have virtually concluded their detailed de-briefing.
The process is so far advanced that the FA are confidentially anticipating that an official announcement can be prepared for release by Tuesday at the latest.
Soccernet insisted that Capello would stay all along, while others believed that he would be sacked. Soccernet also stated categorically that Capello would not resign, when it was reported widely that he would, if England went home early.
One of the pieces of ammunition being fired at Club England chairman Sir Dave Richards has been the decision to erase two clauses from Capello's contract 24 hours before England departed for South Africa. The interpretation is that this was a monumental error by Sir Dave as it means the FA cannot sack Capello without dishing out around £10 million in compensation.
However, Soccernet can now disclose the full inside story of the Capello contract which, had it stayed as it was, would have contained clauses which related specifically to the size of compensation had the FA sacked him which would have run into "several millions".
My FA source tells me that Sir Dave has been unfairly targeted over the contract, explaining that he was merely honouring an agreement already in place and agreed between the former chairman Lord Triesman and the manager.
To remove the clauses just before departure to South Africa was showing the FA's commitment to Capello, and Capello's commitment to the FA. It ended the speculation that Capello would join Inter Milan in succession to Jose Mourinho.
It did not mean that the FA could sack Capello, if they wanted to, free of charge, as it is being portrayed. Any sacking would have triggered a programme of compensation payments which could have eventually reached the same figure under the terms of the new contract.
Capello has been informed of the speed at which the FA are coming to the decision keep him.
Already Executive Board members Phil Gartside and David Sheepshanks have publicly declared their support, and that is a firm indicator that the final count will be heavily in favour of Capello staying, in fact it might prove to be entirely unanimous.
With just a few votes to be cast, I understand that, so far, not one of the 11-man Executive Board has voted in favour of Capello's dismissal, and that will be a true vote of confidence for the under siege boss.
"We have to show we can finally beat a big team - someone like Argentina, Brazil or Spain.
"Definitely, these are bigger opponents than England."
You may remember Germany – Argentina from 2006, the latter stages of which were notable for two things: Jens Lehmann’s cheat sheet – we miss you, Jens – and “the afters”. Those afters involved footballer fights (slapping, purse slinging, etc.) and lots of Argentines with hurt feelings.
You may also remember halftime of Argentina – Mexico of, oh, last week, in which a number of players from both sides found themselves in a mid-game scrap. So that’s two scuffles in Argentina’s last two knockout games, which is a pretty impressive record.
Germany, meanwhile, have begun throwing the insults, starting with Bastian Schweinsteiger and adding Captain Lahm today. Anyone care to bet on making it three for three come Saturday?
Bastian Schweinsteiger:
“It starts before the match. You see how they gesticulate, how they try to influence the referee. That is not part of the game. That is a lack of respect. They are like that. We should not be provoked by them.“This behaviour shows their character and mentality. I hope the referee will pick up the feeling of who is provoking whom. We saw that again in their match against Mexico.”
Alex Ferguson just fired a bottle of Bordeaux, paper bag and all, through his television at such blatant hypocrisy.
Phil Lahm:
“We know South Americans are impulsive and temperamental and cannot lose. We’ll see on Saturday how they’ll lose and how they’ll behave after a defeat.”
Everything was rolling along nicely under Bastian until Philipp entered the fray. There is this rule in sports, and it’s one of the few rules which transcends sporting boundaries, that you simply must always heed:
You never, ever guarantee victory. Ever. The sporting gods do not take kindly to such proclamations, and are getting ready with a Carlos Tevez goal from 12 nautical miles beyond the last defender, which will nevertheless still be given. A strange thing, the likes of which we’ve never seen before…
Predictably, Diego Maradona then evened the balance:
“I’m not worried about what they say about the penalties, the kicks. We’re going to go and beat them in their half. We don’t have time to think about Schweinsteiger. The players are thinking about going onto the pitch, in getting their revenge.”
The football gods are now confused as to which team requires punishment, and are spinning themselves into a tizzy, brewing up the perfect storm of retribution. At this point a mystery, but probably worthy ducking underneath a doorway just in case.
However, one thing we can sleep soundly on is this: they will fight.
A review/preview of Germany – Argentina:
If this isn’t the most quintessentially African thing we’ve seen involving the teams this World Cup, I can’t possibly imagine what is. The Ghanaian team took to singing and dancing two days before the Uruguay game tomorrow afternoon, which, to be fair on second thought, isn’t all that different from what a European club team’s players would be doing either. Only their singing and dancing would involve a karaoke bar, model-wannabes, a lawyer’s bill and a headline on the front page of the morning’s newspaper. (Do they even make newspapers anymore?)
So Ghana’s party is brilliant and legal. Imagine that.
"You can't shut him down for the entire match and you have to try to contain him with a collective effort," Khedira said.
Although Messi has yet to score at the tournament, his attacking play has worried defenders, creating space and opportunities for teammates.
Khedira is only too aware of what the Argentina star is capable of producing, having gotten a close look when his Stuttgart club faced Messi's Barcelona in the Champions League.
Messi scored twice and set up another goal to lead Barcelona to a 4-0 win over Stuttgart and a 5-1 aggregate score.
Germany striker Miroslav Klose, who is expected to play his 100th international against Argentina, said both teams have been revamped since their stormy quarterfinal clash in 2006, when tempers flared and punches were exchanged after a penalty shootout that decided it for the Germans.
"I know they can take revenge for 2006, but it's a different team now. Lionel Messi was on the bench then," Klose said. "We've changed a lot, too. Still, when you look at the names, on paper Argentina is simply better.
"But it's what happens on the field that matters. It's how you come out as a team."
Klose has two goals at this tournament and shares fourth place on the all-time World Cup scorers list with Pele at 12.
Klose is the oldest starter in Germany's squad — the country's second youngest ever at a World Cup — but the striker believes it has the right blend to repeat its 2006 quarterfinal victory.
"We have a good balance between young and experienced, and we have the quality to beat Argentina," the 32-year-old Bayern Munich striker said.
Thomas Mueller, who leads Germany with three goals and who is growing into a star at age 20, believes Argentina has defensive weakness Germany could exploit.
Argentina defender Martin Demichelis has looked vulnerable and Mueller and Klose are bound to know the weaknesses in their Bayern teammate.
"Argentina's offense is world class but they have some defensive deficits as seen against Mexico," Mueller said.
Argentina beat Mexico 3-1 in the second round.
"We have to believe in ourselves and we are all pulling together. This determination gives us mental strength to overcome difficulties," he said.
In 2006 at home, Germany knocked out Argentina on penalties after a 1-1 draw through extra time. Klose equalized in the 80th minute to cancel out Roberto Ayala's second-half goal. Germany won when goalkeeper Jens Lehmann stopped shots by Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso.
After the shootout, the teams and officials got into a scuffle. Argentina's unused substitute, Leandro Cufre, was given a red card and FIFA later suspended German midfielder Torsten Frings, who missed his team's semifinal loss to Italy.
Argentina has only one win over Germany at the World Cup and that was when now-coach Diego Maradona was still playing in 1986.
Both teams have a long World Cup history, having met five times and twice in the final.
Maradona led Argentina to a 3-2 win in Mexico, while four years later in Italy in 1990, Germany won 1-0 on a penalty. Those were also the last times either team won the World Cup.
Germany won a group match 3-1 in 1958 and the two teams drew 0-0 in another group match in 1966.
Now, Maradona is looking for a win as coach.
Argentina eased past Germany 1-0 in a friendly in March, with Gonzalo Higuain scoring the goal. Higuain also was not in Argentina's squad four years ago.
The Oranje have won all four of their World Cup games in South Africa, but have still received criticism from the media at home for failing to reproduce the scintillating brand of football that saw them thrash Italy and France at Euro 2008.
But while Elia admits that the Dutch have yet to set the finals alight, he is confident that playing five-time winners Brazil will bring the best out of his team-mates.
"We can play a lot better than we have," Elia told FIFA.com. "We've been getting the results, but we've not yet shown the kind of team we are and the kind of football we can play."
"We've been controlling all the matches, but I think we can still get a lot better and I am sure we will."
Elia, 23, is confident that he can play some part against Brazil after coming off the bench in each of Netherlands' games so far. He said: "I feel like I have been doing a pretty good job when I get on the pitch and I want to stay hungry and keep going."
And the Ajax youth product, now plying his trade with Bundelsiga side Hamburg, is not daunted at the prospect of facing one of the tournament favourites, Brazil, and says that Netherlands will approach the game like any other.
"When we came here to South Africa we only had one thing in our minds: to reach the final," he said. "We're not worried about Brazil or any other opponent because we just need to play our game."
"We came to South Africa to become world champions and we're going to do everything we can to make it happen."
Pele and Maradona, the two chief pretenders to the title of 'world's greatest ever player' have been embroiled in a bitter war of words for some time and it is Pele who has taken the latest verbal potshot.
Brazil's all-time record scorer was quoted last month as saying that Maradona had only taken the Argentina manager's job because he needed the money.
Maradona hit back by telling Pele that he belongs in a 'museum', but the Brazilian has now expressed his doubts about the Argentina coach's credentials, specifically because of his colourful private life.
"He is not a good coach, because he had a bizarre lifestyle which cannot go down well with his team," Pele told German magazine 11Freunde.
Argentina have been in impressive form so far in South Africa, but Pele believes they will have their work cut out getting past quarter-final opponents Germany.
"This young German team is a pleasure to watch," Pele said. "It is clear to see that something has changed in German football, it was already beginning to happen at Euro 2008 (where they lost 1-0 to Spain in the final).
"The youngsters Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller, they are like their predecessors Wolfgang Overath and Pierre Littbarski. They can dribble, deliver pinpoint passes, and produce something surprising at any moment."
