England coach Fabio Capello says he’s decided who will play alongside Wayne Rooney in the World Cup qualifier against Croatia at Wembley tonight, but is keeping his cards close to his chest.
Debate has been raging all week on whether Jermain Defoe should play up front in place of Emile Heskey. Defoe has scored five goals in his last three games for England, while target man Heskey has been favoured in the past by Capello and played in the 4-1 victory against Croatia in Zagreb.
An England win at Wembley will guarantee their qualification for next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa although they will be mindful that is was the Croats that ended their hopes of qualification for the last European Championships.
Asked about that match and whether he knew who would partner Wayne Rooney, Capello said:
More or less I have decided in my mind.
I prefer to look at the next game. I do not speak about a game that they played two years ago.
They will go into this game thinking about how we won in Croatia.
