Fabio Capello is unsure whether England's demolition of Croatia in Zagreb in a World Cup qualifier will be sufficient to win back the belief of the supporters.
MichaelSteele/GettyImages
Capello's men were up to the task in Zagreb.
England produced their most convincing performance for several years in winning 4-1 against Slaven Bilic's side with Theo Walcott bagging a memorable hat-trick, but Capello is aware it is only one small step towards the ultimate goal of qualifying for the finals in South Africa in 2010.
He said: ''I said before the game that we have played better away from Wembley. I hope this game against Croatia helps the national team and also we need the support of the fans.
''Has this result got back the belief of the fans? I don't know. For me, it is only one result. An important result maybe, which puts us on six points with the Ukraine, but that is all.''
Capello was delighted by the return to form of Wayne Rooney who ended his 11 month international scoring drought and also laid on two goals for Walcott.
He said: ''Rooney played very well, scored a goal and had two assists. His fantastic movement without the ball helped everyone and I was happy with that.''
The win in Zagreb saw the Croatians beaten for the first time since 1991 on home soil and without the likes of Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Owen Hargreaves, although Capello insisted the players in his squad are picked on current form.
He said: ''The door is always open for all the players but, when I decide the squad, I choose the best players at this moment - not for sympathy.
''When I watch the games, I say 'this is good for what we want now.'''
Capello admitted being able to work with the England players for a 10-day period allowed him to stamp his imprint on the squad and he welcomed the opportunity to make more of an impression via the elongated spell surrounding the qualifiers.
He said: ''When in club management, I am usually training every day, for one month, for maybe 50 days to change something. Usually in my career I have worked every day with the players.
''Here I just tried to change something in 10 days. I saw something. We spoke with the players. We asked them to do things during the training.
''The players know what I think about them. I have got to know the players much better and also they know me better. It is very important.''
No comments:
Post a Comment