Fabio hits back at Der Kaiser

Fabio Capello has accused Franz Beckenbauer of showing a lack of respect to England after his recent comments.

The Three Lions coach also lambasted the adidas Jabulani World Cup ball as the worst he has ever come across.

Germany legend Beckenbauer accused England of adopting a 'kick and rush' approach in their opening Group C draw against the United States and claimed they had gone backwards under the Italian.

Capello was clearly riled by the comments and suggested Beckenbauer, nicknamed Der Kaiser from his playing days, would be wise to keep his opinions to himself in future.
Respect

"I am surprised by his comments," he said. "When you speak about another team you should always respect them.

"It is easy to speak about a team when you sit in the stand. But you have to see the game live.

"We didn't play the long ball. We played a lot of passes and had chances to score.

"For this reason, I don't understand what Beckenbauer said."

Terrible

Capello is equally unhappy with the controversial Jabulani ball, produced specifically for this tournament, which has attracted criticism from most quarters.

"This is the worst ball that I have seen in my life," he said. "It is terrible for the players.

"It is terrible for the keepers because it is impossible to follow the trajectory.

"When you try to switch the ball with long passes it is really difficult to understand where it is going to go.

"But the really big problem is that sometimes this ball is impossible to control."