Sabo: England not a team to be feared anymore

Sabo: England not a team to be feared any more

Sep 10, 2012 9:45:00 AM

The former Ukraine coach believes that Roy Hodgson's squad lack the star power of past teams and says that he does not consider them as favourites for the group

Former Ukraine national team coach Yozhef Sabo has stated that England are no longer a team to be feared ahead of their World Cup qualifier at Wembley.

A Wayne Rooney goal helped England to a 1-0 victory in the sides' last meeting at Euro 2012, but there was little between the two teams and Sabo, who coached Ukraine for three years between 1996-1999, believes that the visitors could spring a surprise.

"England are no longer the opponents who everyone once feared," Sabo told reporters.

"We are no worse than them so we have an equal chance. We showed at Euro 2012 that we can play with them as equals.

"They do not have a lot of superstars. Rooney is injured and, apart from [Steven] Gerrard and [Frank] Lampard, nobody comes to mind.

"Some consider England to be favourites for the group. I don't."

This will be Ukraine's first competitive fixture since crashing out of Euro 2012 to England, who come into the game off the back of a routine 5-0 win over minnows Moldova.

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