Capello says England showed Courage and Confidence

September 11, 2008

England swept aside Croatia with a 4-1 win last night after a fantastic performance from Theo Walcott. Walcott became the youngest ever England player to score a hat trick at the age of 19.

Capello said: “We played with confidence and no fear from the first minute,”

“The players played like they do in training - technically well and with courage. This is the start.”

Capello singled out the young Walcott for extra praise after he set the team on their way to the victory before scoring another 2 to complete a dream hat trick.

“I decided to put Theo into the first XI because I saw the game against Andorra at the weekend and also how he was in training - and at this moment he is fantastic psychologically and physically,” added Capello.

“He is young and so dangerous for defenders. He is one of the most important young players in England. At this moment, he is difficult to contain.

“I hope he doesn’t get any injuries because he is so fast and so dangerous.

“Of course, he is a young player and I said after the Andorra game that he will play fantastic games - but also that he will not play the same level in all of the games.

“When he plays like against Croatia, it is fantastic, but when he plays not so good, we have to support him. This is very important.”

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic also had praise for Walcott “He is lightening quick and a great finisher,”

“He scored two goals from not so easy positions, he just hit the corner.

“It is hard to mark him. That is why he is an England international and why he is at Arsenal.”

Capello was very pleased with the result but was keen for people to realise that the job is far from over.

“We played well, we played like a team, very compact and with no problems,”

“We studied the style of Croatia and we tried to make it difficult for them to play their usual style.

“But let’s not get carried away. We have just started. It is the second game of the qualifying round. It is a good performance, a good result, but it is nothing.

“It is only one game. There is much still to do and games like Belarus and Ukraine will also be tough.”

“We stayed together for 10 days and I said that step by step we will would get better,” continued Capello. “We have all worked very well in that time.

“I’m not surprised by the performance because I know the players and I know what is possible. The score is incredible but the performance of the team was very, very good.”

Theo Walcott added:

“We have showed everyone how strong we are as unit,”

“The football we are playing is absolutely brilliant and we can do that against anyone.”

Talking about is goals he said:

“My first two goals were quite similar,” he added. “I tend to cross the ball a lot but I thought I’d be a bit more greedy. Wayne Rooney gave me a brilliant pass for my third.

“I am grateful that Fabio Capello has given me the opportunity and I have to take that and keep on improving.”

“I played with one less stud,”

“My boot went to bits and I was going to change but the boots wouldn’t have suited me. The lads said they were glad.”

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