Capello calls for calm after stunning victory

Croatia 1 England 4

Published:

FABIO Capello saluted hat-trick hero Theo Walcott, but played down the long-term significance of England’s amazing 4-1 win over Croatia.

Capello’s faith in the Arsenal teenager, who was preferred to David Beckham, was more than justified as England overwhelmed Slaven Bilic’s side.

Wayne Rooney also showed a return to form, scoring England’s other goal and laying on two more for Walcott.

But despite the victory, Capello has his feet firmly on the ground in terms of what England have achieved and knows there is a long haul ahead before they can contemplate competing in the 2010 finals in South Africa.

The Italian said: “I decided to put Theo into the first X1 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.

“It is very dangerous for defenders against Walcott. At this moment, he is difficult to contain.

“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 every game.

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

England returned home with a maximum haul of six points from their opening two games but Capello is too wise and experienced to start claiming the hard work has been done.

He said: “The result was better than I expected, but I said in the build-up that I had a lot of confidence in the players because we have all worked very well in the 10 days or so we stayed together.

“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.”

Croatia, who scored through Mario Mandzukic, finished with 10 men after Robert Kovac was sent off for an aerial challenge on Joe Cole who needed 10 stitches to his head.