The soulless Olympic Stadium in Barcelona - from the inside a nondescript, concrete shell residing high above the city in the suburb of Montjuic - is not a typical setting for sports events of great importance beyond the world of athletics. Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell won gold for Great Britain here in 1992, but these days Estadi Olimpic stands largely dormant and isolated, silent most days save for the odd tourist party and the meowing of a stray cat, despite the best efforts of the local government.
Espanyol, the second football club of Barcelona, use it and keep a strangely deserted office here, but only temporarily while a new home is being built near the airport, and on odd, anomalous occasions, the citizens of Andorra, a landlocked principality in the Pyrenees with about 72,500 inhabitants and the longest life expectancy in the world, decamp to lose a World Cup qualifying match beneath the floodlights. It is this function that has given it such an unlikely supporting role in the soap opera that is the story of England's national football team.
The regime of Steve McClaren reached its nadir here, in a frenzy of rage and futile menace, as the route to the 2008 European Championship finals grew more torturous, and this evening the time of Fabio Capello, his replacement, will begin in earnest, with a victory in his opening World Cup qualifying match. That the outcome can be so glibly predicted says nothing about the strength or reliability of Capello's England. That is just the way it is for any nation of substance against Andorra.
The team have been competing for ten years and have won three matches, never outside the principality, against Belarus, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; but only the last was a competitive game. In that time only 14 competitive goals have been scored and September 2, 2000 is remembered with particular fondness for being the only time Andorra have scored twice in a qualifying match; they still lost, 3-2, to Cyprus, though. So the win is given.
Anything less is as unthinkable as Mike Ashley getting the freedom of the city of Newcastle, or Manchester City's new owners deciding to be patient and invest in the youth academy. Yet Andorra away is one of those strange matches that managers hate to acknowledge exist, because a win is not enough.
The honeymoon was officially over last month when Capello's team were booed off the pitch at Wembley against the Czech Republic, but there could be a further parting of the ways this evening. Capello wants his team to play well, but in his heart, like all managers, he is a pragmatist. In qualifying, a win is a win. He will not understand the mentality of those who insist on seeing that, and more.
“It would be stupid of me to start talking about being happy with one goal, or two or three, or four,” he said. “The first thing we need to think of is the result because that is all that matters once the qualifying group starts. As for the match, I saw Andorra play Kazakhstan and even though they were three goals down at half-time, they came out in the second half and still defended. So it is never easy.”
McClaren's team won away to Andorra, too. Romped home 3-0, in fact. Never in doubt. Did not play well in the first half, but the goals were only a matter of time. Andorra had one tactic, which was to stick the boot in, and the verbal skirmishing during the build-up to this rematch suggests that little will be different today, hence Capello's concerns that his team are not drawn into a debilitating brawl. The problem on the previous visit was that the early breakthrough did not come and, even when the goals came, three points did not pacify a hostile audience, many of whom appeared to have travelled to Barcelona to target McClaren and their least favourite players.
When England did not get a goal within 15 minutes the abuse began and by half-time it had reached a crescendo. There remains the danger of the same rush to judgment on Capello's England, unless the team start well tonight. Is this fair? Not really. It is never simple to play a team whose only ambition is to resist by any means necessary. Away to Andorra the previous time, Owen Hargreaves claimed to have been struck four times by opposition players and Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards received atrocious tackles.
Terry Venables, now back in Barcelona as an analyst for Setanta Sports, and assistant to McClaren previously, explained the awkward dynamic of the apparent walkover. “There is a natural progression that is not always attractive, particularly when one team is not playing by the rules,” he said. “The better players have to work until tiredness sets in among the opposition and that is when you exploit the gaps and score. Every manager, every person who knows about football, will recognise that.
“I never understood why, that night, there was so much focus on the first half when a match lasts 90 minutes. I didn't realise the goals had to be spread evenly. Some fans think that booing inspires a team because the players get wound up to prove the crowd wrong, but against Andorra the negative reaction was no help at all.”
It was a theme echoed by John Terry, the England captain, who attempted to steer a delicate, diplomatic line. “Before that game, people were talking as if we would score six or seven and then they got very frustrated, very quickly,” he said. “That knocked on, because then we felt their frustration, too, and it made it even more difficult. Everything got louder and louder, the booing got worse, and then people became scared to take a chance. That is what stops you getting the goal, because you start doing everything simply, when sometimes it is the ambitious pass that opens the game up; but nobody wants to try it, in case they make a mistake. The players retreat into a shell.”
Terry knows that he will get little sympathy, but that does not make his point less valid. There is no doubt that this England team suffer fear of failure and are inhibited and while victory here is certain, this is still a big game and one that would benefit from an early goal to release the pressure. England need a confidence-building 90 minutes before travelling to Croatia next week. Terry cannot remember the last time he was part of an England performance that lifted the spirits: a year ago, probably, when McClaren's team revived their fortunes briefly with convincing home wins against Israel and Russia.
The likelihood is that Capello will start with Stewart Downing and Rooney behind Jermain Defoe, with David Beckham, Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard in midfield. If doubts remain about Lampard's fitness, Jermaine Jenas is expected to play and Matthew Upson will replace the injured Rio Ferdinand. Whatever team Capello selects should be more than enough for Andorra. Whether it is enough for a country high on expectation and low on patience is another matter. That first goal cannot come soon enough.
