Capello's confidence in Rooney
Sunday, 27 June, 2010
Contribution of Rooney is vital, says England Manager.
Fabio Capello has hailed Wayne Rooney’s contribution to his side ahead of Sunday’s World Cup last 16 game with Germany.
The striker failed to score in England’s three group games, but showed signs he was getting back to his best in Wednesday’s crucial 1-0 win over Slovenia.
But Capello is full of confidence in the Manchester United frontman.
"Always Rooney is a really good player and is important,” said Capello. "The last game he didn't score but he is always important for us, his movement."
And Capello admits he knows ten members of his starting line-up, with the only question mark thought to be over who will play alongside John Terry in the centre of defence, with Matthew Upson, Jamie Carragher and Ledley King all in contention.
“I know my team, probably you know the same,” he said. “You know the first ten players that will play except for one.”
Whoever makes up the starting eleven, Capello is confident that they will all perform to their potential. The Italian told FIFA.com that their final group game victory has released the tension that had previously built up in the camp and he now believes they will play without fear and with greater freedom.
“Confidence is really important, particularly here at the World Cup. Without confidence, it’s impossible to go forward. If you play with fear, it’s impossible to play well, it’s impossible to score goals and it’s impossible to find the mentality you need to defend well.
"Whenever you play in a tournament like this, you have to be compact; you have to be really, really strong as a unit.
“The players have always trained well, but they have been more relaxed after winning. They have always trained like England and now a few days ago [against Slovenia] they played like England.
"Against USA and Algeria, they weren’t the same team which I know, but things have changed. We played very well, created a lot of chances to score goals and now the spirit of the team is really showing.”