Fabio Capello believes England should be aiming for a place in the World Cup semi-finals at the very least, suggesting Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, and Frank Lampard’s are well worthy of their pre-tournament billing as one of the favourites.
Capello claims the England management position was always a job he dreamt of having and admits leading England in South Africa in June, is the biggest challenge of his career.
While acknowledging his rivals, the Italian believes it is high time England won the World Cup, having not done so since 1966.
The England manager told the press: “We have one of the best teams that will play in the World Cup,"
"I hope the minimum [target] is the semi-finals.”
“And then, after a lot of years, we can win the World Cup because we have a good team, good players and in this moment we think we can beat all the teams because we can play at the same level as the best teams in the world."
"The challenge for me is always important. At my age without challenge I stay at home, or I go on holiday.”
“I like the challenge and this will be the most important challenge of my life."
In addition to talking up his side’s chances, Capello claimed he fulfilled a dream, when he was appointed England boss.
The Italian continued: "To be England manager was one of my dreams and I am really happy to be England manager.”
“My job when I was manager of Milan, Juve, Roma or Madrid, I try to win always. For me it's the same now as England manager."
"It is time to win for one of the European teams, also one African team will have a real chance because the support of fans will be really strong,"
"We will have no problem with jet-lag. We hope that problem will be for the South American teams that are really, really strong like Brazil and Argentina."
Although a proud Italian, Capello suggested he would relish facing his the country of his birth in the World Cup Final, should England progress that far.
Capello concluded: "I hope to play against Italy in the final, but my shirt at that moment will be an England shirt,"
"I would not swap my position with (Italy coach) Marcello Lippi, I prefer to be England manager."