Capello faith in Terry cover

Boss confident England can cope without captain

By Ben Collins   Last updated: 11th October 2008

Wayne Rooney Fabio Capello Theo Walcott England training

Capello: Decision in defence

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Fabio Capello is confident England will cope without skipper John Terry against Kazakhstan.

The Chelsea defender has been ruled out of Saturday's World Cup qualifier at Wembley with a back injury but may recover in time for Wednesday's trip to Belarus.

Capello confirmed that Rio Ferdinand would take over the captaincy, with Wes Brown, Joleon Lescott and Matthew Upson battling it out to partner Ferdinand in the centre of defence.

"We have a squad and I'm sure the replacement for John Terry will play very well," said the England coach.

"If it's not possible for him to play against Belarus then we have other players that will be good replacements for him. It will depend how he is in training on Sunday and Monday."

Spirits are high in the England camp after claiming a superb 4-1 win in Croatia last time out and Capello would be delighted if the Three Lions can take their group tally to 12 points with victory in the next two qualifiers.

"It would be a fantastic Christmas," he said. "We'll try to play well but the most important thing is to win.

Spirit

"It's very important for our group campaign and for the team spirit, and I think tomorrow we'll play with more confidence.

"I was very happy with the result against Croatia but it's only three points, we have to win again tomorrow."

Theo Walcott was the hero in Zagreb after scoring a hat-trick and Capello has warned not to expect too much from the young Arsenal forward.

"There are big expectations about Theo but we have to treat him the same as the other players," he said.

"I'm very happy when young players have a big moment, but to us he's the same player he was before the game against Croatia.

"We have to help him because it's not always possible to play like you did in the last game.

"But it's very interesting for now and the future of the England team."

Capello also appealed to the England fans to get behind the team after voicing their frustration during recent home performances.

"I remember the old Wembley atmosphere when the crowd had a lot of support for the team," he added.

"When we've played there we've had problems after 20-25 minutes.

"If we don't score the goals very early I hope the crowd are patient with us.

"You have to be patient sometimes because I respect Kazakhstan and it's not easy to score goals against them.

"I'm sure the crowd will help us in the next game 100%."