ENGLAND COACH Fabio Capello blasted a group of photographers prior to yesterday’s training session at their Royal Bafokeng World Cup base.
Capello took exception to his players being filmed inside a building which also houses a medical room and rounded on those responsible, demanding to know “Why do you take photos of the rooms? No excuses.”
It is the first time the Italian has lost his temper with the huge number of people who follow the England national side and is thought to stem from pictures being taken of the players on their safari on Tuesday afternoon.
After delivering his broadside, Capello then stood angrily staring down the photographers, before turning to walk on to the training pitch, with his players following shortly afterwards.
It was later confirmed there would be no access to training for photographers today, although this was not a knee-jerk reaction to events of the past 24 hours.
The move, which was arranged within the England schedule, followed Fifa guidelines of allowing one session behind closed doors in the build-up to each game.
Meanwhile, Shaun Wright-Phillips returned to training as England continued their preparations for Saturday’s Group C opener against the United States in Rustenburg.
With England’s World Cup campaign looming large, Capello was hoping for all his players available – and the Italian has almost got his wish.
With Wright-Phillips now recovered from the minor knee injury which forced him to miss training on Tuesday, the only absentees were Ledley King and James Milner – both of whom did solo sessions in the gym.
For King it was a normal day considering he rarely trains with the main group due to his chronic knee problems, while Milner was allowed a light session after reporting a high temperature on Tuesday.
Although Gareth Barry has ruled himself out of Saturday’s game, Capello has yet to do so and the Manchester City midfielder did train with the main group again, proving his recent ankle problem is now behind him.
The English Football Association are also playing down reports that goalkeeper David James is troubled by a minor knee ailment and insist he is fit and available for selection – even though Robert Green is favourite to face the Americans.
