GROUP SIX:FABIO CAPELLO confronts the first critical challenge of his tenure as England manager against Croatia this evening insisting that his players will prefer the intimidating atmosphere of the Maksimir Stadium to being jeered by their own fans at Wembley.
Croatia have never lost a competitive game on their own turf, a staggering sequence stretching back some 35 matches, with the embarrassment inflicted upon Steve McClaren's side in Zagreb some 23 months ago still fresh in the memory.
Capello was at pains to stress his team go into this evening's match confident and will play "with courage, not fear", though his claim that his squad are happier away from the raised expectations and heightened pressure of their own massed support at their nearly €1000 million home suggested otherwise.
"At the moment, the players play better away from home," said Capello, whose team lost their first friendly away from Wembley under his management, against France in Paris. "They play with more confidence away. When we play at Wembley, sometimes the crowd whistle at the first mistake. Here it will be different. I hope we will play with courage, not fear, and we play like a team. I'm sure, really, that England's players will play better than they do at home."
Croatia coach, Slaven Bilic, joked yesterday that visiting teams are "overwhelmed by the beauty" of the Maksimir, explaining why his side boast such a startling record at a rather dated ground. Capello put his squad through their paces there last night and, having admitted to being wary of the hosts' pace and power on the counter-attack, perhaps offered a glimpse of his tactical game-plan by employing a three-man central midfield which included David Beckham.
The team flung together in training had Theo Walcott and Joe Cole working wide and nominally supporting Wayne Rooney as a lone striker, with Gareth Barry, flanked by Beckham and Frank Lampard, anchoring midfield. The Aston Villa player is expected to be handed the ominous task of nullifying Luka Modric, England's tormentor when Croatia won 3-2 at Wembley last November. The Tottenham Hotspur playmaker is one of a number of glittering talents within Bilic's line-up.
The Croatia coach revisited his achievement in defeating Steve McClaren's England side at the team's training base in Slovenia yesterday and, as he had stated in the wake of the 2-0 win in Zagreb in October 2006, reiterated that he may simply boast better players than those at Capello's disposal. Indeed, even without the injured Niko Kranjcar and Eduardo da Silva, the 39-year-old is convinced his side are stronger than that which prevailed home and away in qualifying for the summer's European Championship.
"We have high-quality players, but we are much better, in every way, than we were two years ago," said Bilic. "We are simply better players and we are better as a team than we were. Before that game in Zagreb we'd maybe had 20 or 30 training sessions together. Now we've had 150. It has taken us two years to build this side up and now our confidence is sky high.
"This time, I admit, the pressure is on us. We are No5 in the world and we want to qualify for the World Cup. But we will not run away from that pressure. We recognise that England have world-class players of their own, and we are full of respect for them. But, of course, we are very confident that we can win this game."
Such is the confidence locally one Croatian newspaper depicted the visitors' badge as comprising one lion and two kittens. Few were perturbed at the sight of Capello's side's modest win over Andorra on Saturday, though the Italian - with Rio Ferdinand restored following a back injury - remains optimistic his charges can prosper in Zagreb.
"As a group, we are better day by day and I'm sure we will be okay," he added. "We will have to be disciplined because, if we don't have the right balance, they will be dangerous. I have not studied the videos of the defeats [under McClaren]. I always look forward, not back. This is an important game psychologically because England lost the last two matches against Croatia, but I am confident we can impose our style and do well."
Guardian Service
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
CROATIA:Pletikosa; Kovac, Simunic, Corluka, Pranjic; Kovac, Modric, Srna, Rakitic; Olic, Petric.
ENGLAND:James; Brown, Ferdinand, Terry, A Cole; Beckham, Lampard, Barry, J Cole; Rooney, Heskey.
England v Croatia
Venue:Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb
Kick-off:8pm
On TV:Setanta Sports 1
