Rio Ferdinand says that Fabio Capello's winning mentality could be the difference this summer.
Rio Ferdinand believes that Fabio Capello's wealth of experience, and huge pedigree for winning trophies will be crucial for England at the World Cup.
England qualified for South Africa with an impressive record of nine wins out of ten in Group Six, and Ferdinand insists that Capello's insatiable desire to win has spread throughout the squad.
Ferdinand said: "He's been successful in every country he's been in, in Spain and Italy he's won the championships in both countries, he's won the Champions League with Milan.
"He knows what it takes to win and that's what we needed for England. I think there's a better spirit in the England squad from the last campaign because we qualified, the way we did it, with a bit to spare.
"When you win games that breeds confidence. At the moment we're a fairly confident team, but there's always room for improvement and we know that.
"We know there are things we need to work on going into the World Cup and if we get those right on the right days, with a bit of luck we've got a good chance of doing all right."
Ferdinand also reserved praise for his Manchester United and England teammate Wayne Rooney who has enjoyed a spectacular season.
"I think he's added a little bit of selfishness into his game," he said.
"A lot of times in the past Wayne would've got into a good position, he would've got as much satisfaction out of passing to a team-mate and giving them a chance, rather than pulling the trigger himself.
"I think this season he's realised, especially in the Manchester United squad with Cristiano Ronaldo not there, (Carlos) Tevez not there, there's a lot of goals gone from the team.
"This season he's taken on that responsibility and said 'I'm going to be the man to score the goals' and he's done that fantastically.
"You see him getting into the six-yard box, scoring tap-ins, scoring headers and that doesn't come through just luck.
"He's worked hard on that on the training field and he's analysed where he needs to be on the pitch to be most effective.
"We're seeing the fruits of that and hopefully he can continue doing that in an England shirt after the season finishes."