Capello targets last four

England boss sets his sights on semi-finals

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 10th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Capello targets last four

Capello: High standards

I hope the semi-finals is a minimum.

Fabio Capello
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Fabio Capello believes reaching the World Cup semi-finals should be a minimum requirement for England.

The Three Lions will arrive in South Africa this summer among the favourites to take the crown after breezing through qualification.

They have, however, buckled under the weight of expectation in the past and have failed to make it past the quarter-finals in each of their last three appearances at football's showpiece event.

Capello, though, feels it is time England start holding their own on the global stage and has challenged his troops to be among the last four sides battling it out for global supremacy in 2010.

"I hope the semi-finals is a minimum," said the Italian.

"We have good players, we think we can beat all teams because we play at the same level of all the best teams in the world."

While England are expected to be among those challenging for the trophy, Capello feels one of the African nations could spring an upset or two when the World Cup arrives on their continent for the first time.

He said: "I think the surprise will be one of the African teams -- Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria are all good. One of these three will be really dangerous."

Tough

England have African opponents in their group, with Algeria paired alongside them, USA and Slovenia in Group C.

Capello attempted to ready his troops for that contest with a recent friendly against Egypt, but the experienced coach knows his side will need to raise their game again in South Africa if they are to replicate their 3-1 success against the Pharoahs.

"It will be a tough game for us," he said.

"I respect this team. They played against Egypt and beat them (in the World Cup qualifiers) so Algeria are probably stronger than Egypt."

The Italian, however, is looking beyond the early stages to a possible dream final with his homeland.

"I hope to play against Italy in the final but my shirt at that moment will be an England shirt."