Exclusive: 1966 heroes Sir Bobby Charlton & George Cohen compare Capello & the great Sir Alf Ramsey

By Sulmaan Ahmad and Mohammed Bhana

More than enough has been made of this current England side's chances of winning the 2010 World Cup in South Africa this summer, but such heights are never hit on paper.

Qualification, quality of players and management can end up playing a much smaller part than expected. Nothing goes exactly according to plan - even for the winners.

The eyes have it | Capello has look of a winner

And now, with another good-but-perhaps-not-great set of players primed to make the plane to South Africa in seven months, with an unquestionably great manager at the helm, is it crazy to begin making any kind of genuine parallels?

It may be done routinely every four years, but this may be an instance in which there is finally some weight behind the words, according to Sir Bobby's fellow champion of 66, George Cohen.
 
He told Goal.com: "Capello has won the biggest trophies for all the top club sides he has managed. He has the hunger to win things and instills pride and a winning mentality into his players and that makes a difference. 

"[Sven-Goran] Eriksson and [Steve] McClaren before maybe encouraged celebrity culture and got too close to the players. With Capello, he’s not into any of that nonsense and just gets on with it.
 
"He wants the team to play football with passion, pride and technique. Only great performances against the best teams will do for Capello."

When there was talk of a direct comparison, Cohen both shyed from and warmed to the idea at the same time. "You can’t really compare them because they are from a different era, different worlds if you like," he remarked initially.
 
"Capello has that steely look in his eyes and Sir Alf was no different. There is definitely something about Capello that reminds me of Ramsey. He was a very strict disciplinarian and that played a big part in our success.
 
"When he did speak to the players he would always get his point across. No one dared to take advantage of him. He would take any player apart if he wanted, and on several occasions he certainly let players know that he was the boss. But he was also very honest.
 
"He didn’t care about reputations; he expected good manners and impeccable behaviour from every single player."

But when comparing the teams, Cohen noted that Capello's charges don't quite match up to the World Cup-winning side.
 
"In '66 we had the likes of the great Gordon Banks in goal," he explained. "If you are to win the World Cup, you need the best ‘keeper available, so whoever will be picked to play in goal will have to be at the top of their game.
 
"Although we have John Terry at the moment, Bobby Moore was a complete one-off; he would play the game immaculately and had the respect of his peers. However, Terry is a great defender and will lead by example in South Africa.
 

Unique | Cohen says Moore was a "one-off"

"If we find the right balance, it will be fantastic to watch our midfield in action. We had the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, who was fearless. And playing at Wembley really gave him and the rest of the squad an edge.
 
"We don't have home advantage this time, but if we can get the best out of [Steven] Gerrard and [Frank] Lampard, we will be fine. The holding midfielder and left-sided player could be tricky, though.
 
"Up front, we need to find the right partner for [Wayne] Rooney, who is world class – a ferocious talent who is passionate about the game."
 
The loss against Brazil, even with a B-side on the field, certainly did little to increase the enthusiasm of even England's most optimistic fans, and Cohen warns that the one weakness on Capello's track record - albeit in friendlies - has been the inability to beat the bigger teams.
 
"So far Capello has done a great job. The players and the fans respect him," he said.
 
"But for England to win the World Cup, we need to step up our game against the bigger sides, the Brazils, the Spains. Capello knows that we need to beat the best.
 
"The team needs to be one solid unit and spend their spare time in South Africa preparing and working productively."
 
And then, with a glint in his eye, he added: "We also need a bit of luck on our side."