Capello: Wilshere will cope

Capello: Wilshere will cope

Published Jun. 4, 2011 9:15 a.m. ET

Wilshere told under-21 coach Stuart Pearce he was not making himself available for this summer's tournament in Denmark having initially told the England camp he would love to play. The U-turn was made after Wilshere was presented with data by the Arsenal medical staff showing that he would be risking a major injury if he extended his season beyond this evening's Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland at Wembley. It does seem the same situation will apply in 12 months' time, when Wilshere is expected to be in Capello's squad for the European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine. However, Capello insists he is not concerned. "All the players will play a lot of games," said the Italian. "Jack is really young and will recover quickly. Injury-wise it is more difficult 10 years into your career. "I don't have a concern for Jack next year at all." Capello has seen no obvious reduction in standards this week as England prepare for a game they need to win in order to retain top spot in Group G. "He can play one game without any problems," said Capello. "During training he was really good, just like everyone else." Twelve months ago, England were preparing for a World Cup campaign that could not have gone more wrong if Capello had actually been trying to make a mess of it. The precise lessons learned will not be known until Euro 2012, should England qualify, although he is pointing to an emerging team as the basis of his improvement. "We have some players who have got a lot better; like Jack Wilshere and Ashley Young," he said. "They have played more difficult games at the top of the table, playing to reach the Champions League. This is important. "We did really well away to Switzerland, Denmark and Wales. "To qualify would be good but the most important thing is to win trophies. We played really well in qualification (for the World Cup), but we didn't play well in South Africa." In the build-up to this evening's sell-out contest, Capello does not regard himself as a better coach for that experience. Just a wiser one. "Before the World Cup I was sure the team would play better," he said. "What happened surprised me, especially the physical situation. "Before, we had always played fast. When we arrived at the World Cup, we were tired."

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