Facio Capello wary of youthful Wales

Published on Sunday 7 February 2010 23:20

FABIO Capello did not get the ultimate Battle of Britain clash – but after declaring "bring it on" beforehand, he will now discover what a big scalp England are after his side were pitted against Wales in the qualifiers for Euro 2012.

As proceedings unfolded in Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science, England were still to be drawn with only three positions left to fill. A tantalising meeting with Scotland was still on the cards, only for Poland legend Zbigniew Boniek to confirm an English trip to Cardiff as part of the route to the finals which Poland will co-host with the Ukraine.

Capello knows all about Wales' current crop of exciting youngsters already, having shared a flight with John Toshack on the way to the draw on Saturday.

"Wales will be my first derby," said the Italian. "It will be good because they are a very young team. I spoke with John Toshack on the flight over. He told me the average age is 22 and he had some really good young players. It will be interesting – for me and England."

It is less than five years since the last meeting between the two countries, when Joe Cole's solitary goal proved enough to clinch an England victory at the Millennium Stadium after a side coached by Sven-Gran Eriksson had already beaten Wales at Old Trafford.

While Capello claimed Group A – headed by Germany and including Turkey – and Group G – where England ended up – were the toughest, it is difficult to agree with the Italian.

Wales, despite the talents of Aaron Ramsey and Jack Collison are ranked 76th in the world, while Montenegro – a country England have never faced as an independent nation – won only once in the recent World Cup qualifiers and finished bottom, even if six draws from ten games indicates an obdurate nature.

Dimitar Berbatov's Bulgaria will present a bigger challenge to Capello's side, especially if Martin and Stiliyan Petrov are both fit but, in the same group as Montenegro, they never looked like reaching South Africa.

The final team, Switzerland, look one of the weakest sides who could have emerged from the second pot.

Wales coach Toshack, meanwhile, was excited at being drawn against Capello's England.

"I like the group. We will have a good go at it," he said. "England is a big game.

"We lost to England in Cardiff just after I had taken over. But things have changed a lot for us since then and they have for England as well.

"Obviously it will be a difficult one for us and England will be the favourites for the group but our lads will relish the challenge."