Capello delighted with perfect end to dream first year in the job

Published on Thursday 20 November 2008 00:23

FABIO Capello believes it would have been impossible for England to have done any better in his first 12 months in charge after rounding off a memorable year in perfect style by beating Germany 2-1 in Berlin.

Capello's side dominated throughout and even recovered from the setback of conceding a needless equaliser. It means England ended the year with seven wins and a draw from their nine matches under Capello, the only reverse coming against France in his second match in charge last March.

And the Italian admitted it could not have gone any better. "I think it is impossible to be better than this," he said. "We have played nine games and after every one I said the players had taken another step forward. Today is another one. The players played very well. They played like a team. That was very important."

The manner of the performance was as eye-catching as the victory itself.

"It was a very good result for us," added Capello. "I said yesterday I had confidence in the team because I felt the players knew what I wanted during the game and knew what they had to do. We played very well, all the players did. They played with confidence and technical ability and I am very happy about that."

Capello was reluctant to heap too much praise on the outstanding Gabriel Agbonlahor's shoulders, well as the Aston Villa striker played. The team display was just too accomplished. "Gabriel did very well," said Capello. "He used space and his movement was excellent. He gave us balance when we went forward and when we defended. But I don't like to speak about one player because the whole performance was so good."

German coach Joachim Low admitted his side were second best. "The English were better over the whole game," he said. "We had a bad day and deserved to lose. You can see clearly that England were stronger. We did not have the maturity today to beat these opponents."