WAGs prepare to fly to England’s rescue

With England in desperate need of some va-va-voom to boost its rapidly dwindling World Cup changes, could it be time for the 'WAGs' to invade the team’s sex-free Rustenburg barracks? As John Terry hinted yesterday that the long days in the fortress-like headquarters are getting to the players, several wives and girlfriends were standing by to fly out to South Africa.
 
Since he became England’s manager Fabio Capello has made a great show of sidelining the WAGs, likening them to a "virus" and trying to blame them for wrecking England's focus in Baden Baden in 2006. At this year's World Cup, he has so far kept the players' partners out of the training ground and even out of the team's Royal Bafokeng hotel.
 
But Capello's disciplinarian tactics – which include an 11pm bedtime curfew – do not appear to be working. Terry has already hinted that the team's World Cup campaign is causing frustration and tension both on the pitch and beyond. "We have table tennis, darts, snooker and the pool," he said in Sunday afternoon's press conference. "But between lunch and dinner is about six hours and there is a little bit of boredom kicking in."
 
While Steven Gerrard has described the team’s base as "a five-star prison", the only partying permitted so far has been following Friday night's draw with Algeria - to mark Capello's 64th birthday. But instead of celebrating, Capello laid into them for lacking passion in the game.
 
Some are now arguing that England's World Cup campaign might get more of a boost were Fabio to lift his sex ban. Argentina, arguably the stand-out team in the tournament so far, have been encouraged to sleep with their regular partners.
 
Now it looks like some of the WAGs are preparing to flout Capello’s orders to stay away until the group stages are over. Glenn Johnson's wife Laura, Emile Heskey's fiancee Chantelle Tagoe and Matthew Upson's girlfriend Ellie Darby are already in South Africa, while Gerrard's wife Alex Curran and Joe Cole's wife Carly (pictured above with Vanessa Perroncel) are expected to fly out soon.
 
Alex Curran says that, should she be needed, she is prepared to fly out in time for England's crucial match against Slovenia on Wednesday.  She told the Sun: "If he phoned me and told me to get to South Africa I'd be on the next plane. It's my job to lift him up and make him feel positive." ·