England coach Fabio Capello believes the Three Lions are capable of
creating history at this summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.
No European team has ever won the World Cup when it has been
staged outside Europe, but Capello is confident that statistic will
change on July 11 in Johannesburg.
Whether it is England or the likes of Spain or Italy who lift
the trophy remains to be seen, but the Italian would quite happily
take an England v Italy final, despite the conflicting emotions
involved.
"I think it's time for a European team to win," Capello said.
"We will have no problem with jet-lag, the problem will be
for South American teams that are really strong like Argentina and
Brazil.
"I hope to play against Italy in the final, I will be very
happy.
"One of the targets for all the teams is to play the final. I
am sure it will not be easy for me but, at that time, my shirt will
be an England shirt.
"We are one of the best teams in the World Cup. We hope to
arrive at the semi-finals, minimum, and then, after a lot of years,
win the World Cup.
"We have a good team, good players, and at this moment we
think we can beat all of the teams because we can play at the same
level of the best teams in the world."
Speaking at last night's Laureus World Sports Awards in Abu
Dhabi, Capello also revealed the differences between club and
international management.
The former AC Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid boss
said: "It's more of a psychological job you do when you only have a
short time to train.
"It's more important to train the mind, to find confidence,
create a group, create a winning mentality. Before the World Cup
when you have more time, you can train every day, you can improve
and find different solutions.
"Like club managers who train every day you can find
different styles and you can find the solution quickly.
"Sometimes, after one (England) game I study what really
happened and when I decide the next squad some player who was
important is injured. For this reason it is a completely different
job."
