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World Cup 2010: Fabio Capello Believes Semi-Finals Are Minimum Target For England
Italian relishing the 'challenge' of trying to break Three Lions duck...
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Mar 10, 2010 5:17:00 PM
By Alex Dimond
England manager Fabio Capello believes his side should be aiming for a semi-final finish at this summer's World Cup in South Africa.
The Italian masterminded the Three Lions to victories in nine of their ten games in qualifying and believes that the players at his disposal have the ability to end the country's 44-year wait for World Cup glory.
"We have one of the best teams that will play in the World Cup," Capello said on Wednesday.
"I hope the minimum [target] is the semi-finals. And then, after a lot of years, we can win the World Cup because we have a good team, good players and in this moment we think we can beat all the teams because we can play at the same level as the best teams in the world."
The 63-year-old is relishing the prospect of his first World Cup as a manager, and pitting his wits against the best teams in international football.
"The challenge for me is always important," he said. "At my age without challenge I stay at home, or I go on holiday. I like the challenge and this will be the most important challenge of my life."
"Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney are the three best players in the world at the moment," Capello said.
"The style of these three players is completely different at the moment. Rooney is strong, he runs a lot and also this year he has scored a lot of goals. I think he is one of the best players."
Capello believes that the location of the tournament, in South Africa, will help England and give other European sides an advantage over their South America rivals.
"It is time to win for one of the European teams, also one African team will have a real chance because the support of fans will be really strong," he said.
"We will have no problem with jet-lag. We hope that problem will be for the South American teams that are really, really strong like Brazil and Argentina."
And the manager hopes he comes up against familiar faces in the final.
"I hope to play against Italy in the final, but my shirt at that moment will be an England shirt," he said.
"I would not swap my position with (Italy coach) Marcello Lippi, I prefer to be England manager."
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The Italian masterminded the Three Lions to victories in nine of their ten games in qualifying and believes that the players at his disposal have the ability to end the country's 44-year wait for World Cup glory.
"We have one of the best teams that will play in the World Cup," Capello said on Wednesday.
"I hope the minimum [target] is the semi-finals. And then, after a lot of years, we can win the World Cup because we have a good team, good players and in this moment we think we can beat all the teams because we can play at the same level as the best teams in the world."
The 63-year-old is relishing the prospect of his first World Cup as a manager, and pitting his wits against the best teams in international football.
"The challenge for me is always important," he said. "At my age without challenge I stay at home, or I go on holiday. I like the challenge and this will be the most important challenge of my life."
"To be England manager was one of my dreams and I am really happy to be England manager.
"My job when I was manager of Milan, Juve, Roma or Madrid, I try to win always. For me it's the same now as England manager."
Capello also had high praise for striker Wayne Rooney, on whose shoulders much of the goalscoring responsibility will lie this summer."Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney are the three best players in the world at the moment," Capello said.
"The style of these three players is completely different at the moment. Rooney is strong, he runs a lot and also this year he has scored a lot of goals. I think he is one of the best players."
Capello believes that the location of the tournament, in South Africa, will help England and give other European sides an advantage over their South America rivals.
"It is time to win for one of the European teams, also one African team will have a real chance because the support of fans will be really strong," he said.
"We will have no problem with jet-lag. We hope that problem will be for the South American teams that are really, really strong like Brazil and Argentina."
And the manager hopes he comes up against familiar faces in the final.
"I hope to play against Italy in the final, but my shirt at that moment will be an England shirt," he said.
"I would not swap my position with (Italy coach) Marcello Lippi, I prefer to be England manager."
Become a fan of Goal.com UK's Facebook fan page for all the latest news and insight into everything related to the beautiful game!
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
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| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
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