
BARCELONA: England’s 2-0 win over Andorra in their opening World Cup qualifier on Saturday left coach Fabio Capello with more questions than answers before their next match against Croatia on Wednesday.
Capello said after their opening match in Group Six he had not decided whether Joe Cole, who came on as a second-half substitute and scored both goals, would start against Croatia, who beat England home and away in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
He also said that Cole and Wayne Rooney did not understand his tactics during the second-half against Andorra, ranked 186th in the FIFA world rankings but good enough to frustrate England for 49 minutes at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday night.
Cole, who has not started any of England’s last fourmatches, could again be left out of the starting line up on Wednesday, one of the most important games for both sides in the qualifying campaign.
Croatia beat England 2-0 in Zagreb in October 2006 and followed that up with a 3-2 win at Wembley last November which ended England’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008 and signal led the end of Steve McClaren’s brief reign as England manager.
Capello took over at the start of this year and Saturday’s match was his first competitive game after five friendlies.
England have now played six matches under the Italian. Seventeeen months ago McClaren’s England were similarly frustrated by the Andorrans, who then held goal less until the 54th minute before winning 3-0.