Fabio Capello's first reaction to England's World Cup draw spoke volumes about how he really regards the prospect of facing the United States, Algeria and Slovenia in Group C next year.
Fabio Capello's first reaction to England's World Cup draw spoke volumes about how he really regards the prospect of facing the United States, Algeria and Slovenia in Group C next year.
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"It's not bad," he acknowledged with a smile after a first-round draw that could scarcely have been better for his squad.
It was not long, however, before the Italian was back in the steely, professional mode that has helped to transform England from Euro 2008 absentees to World Cup wannabes in a little less than two years.
Banishing complacency is an art in which Capello excels and he was applying himself to that task within hours of the draw being completed, reminding his players that World Cup history is littered with examples of highly-rated squads coming unstuck at the first round stage.
As a player, Capello was part of the Italy squad that arrived at the 1974 World Cup as one of the favourites, only to return home after failing to progress beyond a first-round group made up of Argentina, Haiti and Poland.
"There are other groups that are stronger than ours but I remember when I was a player in Germany in 1974, sometimes you can think the group is easy and it will not be so," Capello said.
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| Fabio Capello |
"That is what I will tell the players - because psychologically the games you have to play in a World Cup are different to other games.
"I know from my experience as a player that when you play here the pressure is different and the mentality is different."
England beat the United States relatively comfortably in a friendly in May 2008 but a year later the States displayed far greater quality in beating Spain on their way to the final of the Confederations Cup.
Capello watched that match and knows that England's opener, in Rustenburg on June 12, will present his side with a testing entrance to the tournament.
"The USA are strong physically and technically they are good enough. I saw the game against Spain when they won and it will be no easy game," he said.
England also have recent experience of playing Slovenia, who caused Capello's men some problems before losing 2-1 at Wembley in September and have since confirmed their credentials by beating Russia in a play-off for one of the last spots in South Africa.
"They are technically good, a lot of passes and imagination," Capello said. "So we know there will be no easy games."
England captain John Terry believes the tone for England's campaign will be set by the opening match.
"We are familiar with two of our opponents - USA and Slovenia - and know their players well," Terry said. "Hopefully this will help us prepare for those games.
"But for me, it's all about that first game and getting off to a good start. Every team's opening group match is important and we're no different - it's a big game."
Former England manager Terry Venables said Capello was bound to talk up the opponents but argued that the draw could hardly have been better.
"You could have hand-picked that so we've got to be very satisfied," Venables said.
Former England striker Alan Shearer echoed the theme, suggesting Capello is going to have a tough job in trying to keep a lid on expectations ahead of the tournament.
"USA, Algeria, Slovenia - if you had said that to Fabio this morning I think he would have snapped your hand off."
Although England's first-round group looks comfortably negotiable, a potentially tough second-round match awaits against one of the top two teams from Group D, which contains Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana.
Despite that, British bookmakers all reacted to the draw by cutting the odds on an England victory, although they were divided between those who continue to regard Brazil and Spain as joint-favourites and those who installed Capello's men as second favourites behind Spain.
England have never played Algeria and Capello, who admitted he knows virtually "nothing" about them, revealed that he is hoping to organise a friendly against Egypt in March as preparation for that match.
"I saw only some moments of the play-off games against Egypt," the Italian added. "I saw goals they scored but not too much to understand much about them.
"For me it's important to see a lot of videos of games they have played."
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