England have booked a February international friendly against Denmark, as Fabio Capello looks for an all important warm up match before his side take on Wales at the Millennium Stadium in the Euro 2012 qualifier. It was expected that England were going to face South American side Argentina, but with the two sides being unable to work out the finer details of the date, England have decided to play Denmark instead. They will be playing at the Parken Stadium, which may be a clever tactical move by Capello, as the stadium in Copenhagen has a roof which is retractable, just like at the Millennium Stadium in Wales. There is a train of thought that it will mimic conditions in Wales. The Wales match will be England’s next competitive game, as Capello looks to secure safe passage through to Euro 2012 with an away victory, in what will be a hostile atmosphere. As so often it does, after failing to book any other opponent, history now raises its head, as back in 2005, England played a warm up match against Denmark in Copenhagen before they went to Wales to play a World Cup Qualifier. England prevailed in Cardiff on that day, after losing the friendly to the Danes.
There are still speculations of Fabio Capello’s position as manager of England, with the FA publicly announcing that Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is firmly in the running to success the Italian. Capello is contracted into the job until after Euro 2012, and while England are showing solid signs again in qualification, the real proof of the pudding won’t be until they enter tournament football again. Will Capello be there to do it? Capello has to prove that he can make amends for a woeful showing at South Africa 2010, and the FA decided to keep faith with him, after the boss vowed to look to the future with younger players. Harry Redknapp is currently 2/1 at William Hill in a position as favourite to be next England boss, while a slightly scary though of Roy Hodgson being in charge of the national side is 8/1 at Paddy Power. Martin O’Neill may be out of the running because of his nationality, but he is 11/1 at Paddy Power to follow in the footsteps of Capello. Stuart Peace, who has done a great job with the under 21s is 16/1 at Paddy Power, with big Sam Allardyce, who has just gotten the boot from Blackburn, is 16/1 at Stan James.
