Capello wary of confident Spain

Capello wary of confident Spain
(PA) Monday 29 March 2010

Fabio Capello has pinpointed Spain's strengths ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, believing their confidence makes them hard to beat.

The European champions are the bookmakers' favourites to win this summer's competition and Capello can understand why they are highly fancied to make an impression. He explained in an exclusive interview with the nation's Gol Television: "Spain have a confidence, a system of play that makes it difficult to beat them - and they don't rely on one player to score the goals."
He is like a bull, he's strong, he started playing at 16 with Everton and now he's matured and ready for all the games.
England boss Capello on Wayne Rooney

Asked who else has the potential to win the World Cup, Capello continued: "Brazil I think are a team who are very difficult to beat and Argentina have improved a lot since they qualified. Us, and as always the Germans and Italians. Another team who are very good are Holland, they are young, have good players and could be a danger. But I have a lot of confidence in my team. "

Capello has been impressed by the form of James Milner and Wayne Rooney during the current campaign. "This season the player who has improved most has been Milner. He's played three or four games for us and forms part of the national team," the Italian boss said. "Rooney has scored a lot of goals this season. He's also scored a lot of goals with us but this season he's been impressive. I hope he maintains the same form until South Africa. He is like a bull, he's strong, he started playing at 16 with Everton and now he's matured and ready for all the games," he went on.

England prepared
On England's preparations, Capello said: "We are preparing very well. "We have managed to find a very good site in South Africa and beforehand we are going to Austria to a place I know very well and have been to with Real Madrid and Roma - and for this I think that it will be a good build-up. But the most important thing is that our good players are physically well because they are the players who make the difference."

Capello admits the Achilles injury which will keep David Beckham out of the competition is a blow - but confirmed the veteran could still play a part in the dressing room. "We've had the problem of Beckham being injured, he's an important player for us because he is a player who is always ready to play," he said. "He's willing to play 10 minutes, 15 minutes or half-an-hour. He's a very important player in the dressing room. He's a player who is a symbol and that's why he was a very, very important player. We've asked him if he wants to come with us to South Africa, he could be with us there. It depends on him and the how tendon is."

The Italian also refuted claims midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard cannot play in the same England team. "I think that good players can always play together but it depends a lot on the form of everyone because in the national team you need to play those who are in the best shape," he said. "They are important players, they are very good, and for that reason I think they can play together because a lot of the time they can decide a game."