FABIO CAPELLO was praising the new kids on the block and talking about a changing of the guard in the England team when he was asked if he was leaving at the wrong time.
"Sometimes you have to leave," he laughed before walking off to emphasise his point.
Capello is heading for the door once the Euros in Poland and Ukraine are over in eight months' time.
The Italian made up his mind, has no regrets and anyway he has no choice because the FA are not offering him a new contract.
But Capello's replacement will be in pole position to reap the rewards of a legacy which might not fully blossom until after next summer.
It could be just too early for Phil Jones, Jack Rodwell, Kyle Walker and Danny Welbeck to have progressed sufficiently for England to win Euro 2012.
And it will probably take until the World Cup qualifiers for Brazil 2014 for the new England to develop properly.
But victory over the world champions does the confidence no end of good — even if they somehow managed to do it without having the ball.
And it means that the youngsters starting out on their international careers have a tremendous platform to build on.
There is a temptation to say Spain were only playing at half pace and do not care about losing friendlies.
After all, since their World Cup success in South Africa in 2010 they have lost internationals to Portugal, Italy, Argentina and now England.
Yet their manager Vicente Del Bosque insisted his side gave it 100 per cent effort and that he was disappointed about the defeat. On possession the Spanish should have run out easy winners but they simply did not hurt England.
Capello's team carried out his orders to the letter by getting 10 men behind the ball and leaving poor Darren Bent isolated 40 yards away up front.
Keeper Joe Hart had very little to do, which was down to the excellence of the those in front of him who defended for their lives.
The central defensive combination of Phil Jagielka — with his broken toe — and Joleon Lescott was outstanding and this was undoubtedly the Manchester City star's best game in an England shirt.
When Mark Hughes paid £22million to take him to City, many judges thought he was about £20m over-priced. But this performance showed what Lescott is all about.
In front of him, Scott Parker stretched every muscle and was prepared to die for the cause as the midfield holding player.
Parker is becoming the most essential cog in the England wheel. Everyone feeds off his ball-winning and he was impressively cool when the Spanish tried to close him down as he skipped out of tight situations.
Jones, too, did not look troubled in central midfield either although, equally, you wouldn't pick him out as one of the star performers.
His future for the Three Lions has to be to challenge for a place in central defence.
The question is where that leaves the experienced Rio Ferdinand and skipper John Terry.
Ferdinand, 33, could miss out on the Euros altogether at this rate while Terry, 31 next month, also cannot be guaranteed his place.
Yes he will return to captain the side against Sweden tomorrow night but, for the first time in many a year, his position is under serious threat.
That said those veterans will be encouraged by the fact the oldies are still making a significant contribution. The two best players, Lescott and Parker are 29 and 31, respectively while England's match-winner, captain for the night Frank Lampard, is 33.
Lampard looked to be on the way out of the international scene but he has fought his way back into the reckoning with a determination which has typified his career.
Spain will be kicking themselves for not making the most of their dominance.England couldn't get the ball in the first half but went in 0-0 and amazingly were ahead on 49 minutes from a set-piece — which, in truth, was the only way they were going to score.
James Milner whipped it in, Bent climbed highest to head against a post and just before the ball could spin into the goal, Lampard nodded it over the line.
Wembley fully expected Spain to step it up and get an equaliser but it never happened. If anything they were less comfortable when the likes of Rodwell and Welbeck came on as subs.
But David Villa did hit the woodwork with a left-foot volley, Parker made a last-ditch intervention to prevent Gerard Pique netting and former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas blew two chances at the end to equalise.
His first opportunity on the turn deflected off Rodwell and Hart made a rare save but Fabregas should have stuck away the second from 16 yards out only to shoot wide.
While some of the England players embraced at the final whistle there was no wild high-fiving or any such nonsense.
This result does not mean they are better than Spain and they know there have been too many false dawns in the past.
It is, however, a year since England last lost a game — against France. And while this is no reason to get carried away, there are grounds for optimism.
source : The Sun
