Croatia v England
UEFA European Championship Qualifying Group E
6pm, Wednesday 7 October 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester
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Michael Carrick is confident England will prove their true quality by fighting back from their goalless draw against Macedonia with a five-star performance against Croatia.

Manchester United midfielder Carrick believes the hallmark of a great team is the ability to recover from disappointing results quickly. And that’s exactly what he expects in Zagreb on Wednesday.

He said: "Macedonia was a test for us and it didn't quite go our way. But the best teams all bounce back.

"After the game against we spoke about keeping our heads up and doing the right things. Our confidence hasn’t been knocked.

"The confidence is there, the belief is there, the attitude is there but sometimes you just have them kind of games. So we have to bounce back. We’re trying to get it out of our system as quickly as possible."

The former Tottenham and West Ham man admits, however, that it won’t be easy against a Croatian team who have proved to be almost unbeatable at home over the last 12 years.

He added: "It's a big test for us in Croatia. But no matter what anyone says, we've got to go there and win the game.

"It's a big game for them, with England coming to town and they want to do well but we've got our own agenda and we need the three points.

"You've got to forget about the Macedonia game. What's happened has happened. Even if we'd won the game it would still be difficult in Croatia. We won't go into the game thinking about what happened on Saturday, we’ll just go there thinking of three points."

Stay with TheFA.com as we build up to England v Croatia.