Source: Daily_Mail
Why England boss Fabio Capello fears Gunners' Silva surfer
Not an Englishman in Arsenal’s starting line-up againt Celtic, nothing new there, and Jack Wilshere their only representative from these shores on the bench.
The 17-year-old is being groomed as a future England regular, but Wilshere was not the reason Fabio Capello’s right-hand man, Franco Baldini, was present at Parkhead.
That honour was reserved for Eduardo Alves da Silva.
Brazilian name, Croatian passport and the boundless skill to derail England’s hopes of rubber-stamping their passage to South Africa at Wembley in 10 days’ time.
He may have conned calamity Spanish referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez into awarding a penalty he then converted with an outrageous dive, but his other skills were also on display. Eduardo’s ability has been seriously detrimental to England in the not too distant past.
Gary Neville’s bobbling back pass and Paul Robinson’s air kick are the stand-out memories of the night it all started to unravel for Steve McClaren in Zagreb three years ago. But lest England forget, it was Eduardo who scored Croatia’s opener that night. By then an Arsenal player, he was also present as Croatia finished off McClaren’s ill-fated reign a year later at Wembley.
But England were not the only absentee in Austria and Switzerland, although Eduardo’s no show was no fault of his own. The sickening images of his mangled left ankle, snapped in two by Birmingham defender Martin Taylor’s challenge, left many wondering whether his career had been brought to an end.
But, remarkably, a little over a year later that same ankle was scoring what was for many the goal of the season — an improvised flick in Arsenal’s 3-0 FA Cup destruction of Burnley.
Hamstring niggles curtailed the comeback, but Eduardo is now fully fit and demonstrating why Wenger is in no hurry to buy a replacement for Emmanuel Adebayor.
‘It is a massive season for Eduardo. He was out before he could prove what a big player he is,’ said the Arsenal manager.
He retains all of his pre-injury speed and neither has the venom of his shot been diminished. Eduardo is very much back to his best, England you have been warned.
