john terry leads his england side out against holland this evening insisting his team is capable of winning next year's world cup in south africa if they maintain the impressive progress made last season.
ashley young and, potentially, carlton cole will have opportunities to stake a claim to be regular members of fabio capello's line-up with the former making his first international start against holland at the amsterdam arena, and the west ham forward expected to feature at some point as emile heskey is hampered by a slight achilles complaint despite completing a full training session last night. young, capped five times already, will replace steven gerrard who has returned to liverpool for treatment on a groin problem.
the head coach will seek evidence of continued progress against opponents who england have beaten only once – albeit riotously at euro '96 – in 27 years as he attempts to maintain the momentum that has swept his side to the top of group five and within one win of qualification.
that form has fuelled the conviction that they can indeed be contenders next summer with the italian having apparently exorcised an existing fear factor involved in playing for the national side.
"everyone's playing freely and with confidence under the new manager and, if we can get to south africa, every big team there will have a good chance and we'll be no different," said england's captain terry. "if we play the way we have been, we can't rule out england winning the world cup. but we must continue to improve. we probably learned more in losing to spain [last february] than we would have done going there and beating them, and there's no mental issue any more against the best sides.
"we've played some good sides under fabio and beaten them. the dutch are very good technically and pose a big threat going forward. defensively, too, they're solid so it'll be a good test. but, where in the past players would have been lying if they said there wasn't any fear coming into big games with england, now that's been wiped away.
"we've overcome that mental barrier. we had to, and we've done that. we don't come here over-confident, but we just want to get the most out of what is a big game. this is an important time."
it is a critical opportunity for the likes of young and cole, who have both only enjoyed bit-part roles under capello but who could now take their chances. the england management will check on the fitness of heskey and theo walcott, whose side strain restricted him to a brief, light session on his own in training at the stadium last night, ahead of selecting their side.
david beckham is likely to start in place of the arsenal winger, but the manager confirmed young would fill in for gerrard. "i can't clone stevie, but ashley is one of the english players who can dribble and take people on one on one," said capello.
"this is very important. he has played a few times with me, but now he will be playing against one of the best national teams in the world, so it will be really important for him to have the confidence to perform. the players' performances will be important this season. i will watch a lot of games. i already watched three or four every week, but i want to be sure [who to select for the finals, should england qualify]. the door is open for every player who plays well during the season."
yet it has been slammed shut for the arsenal goalkeeper manuel almunia, whose hopes of earning selection for england rather than his native spain have been snuffed out by his adopted country's italian head coach. "almunia, for me, is spanish," added capello when asked whether he would consider selecting the 32-year-old should he gain british citizenship. "he's spanish and plays for the arsenal team."
今晚英格兰队将对阵荷兰队，在赛前新闻发布会上，英格兰队长约翰·特里坚称，如果他的球队能够保持上赛季中令人难忘的进步速度，就完全有能力在明年的南非世界杯中捧杯凯旋。
阿什利·扬和卡尔顿·科尔都有机会成为卡佩罗阵容中的常客，当然前者的机会要更大一些。扬将会在阿姆斯特丹竞技场迎来首次的国家队首发出场；另一方面，尽管埃米尔·赫斯基昨晚还进行了全程训练，但他最近有脚跟轻微疼痛的症状，因此来自西汉姆的前锋科尔完全可以期待自己的表现机会。扬已经代表国家队出场5次，他将代替返回利物浦治疗腹股沟伤病的史蒂文·杰拉德。
英格兰在过去27年中仅有一次战胜荷兰，就是在1996年欧洲杯中的狂胜。总教练卡佩罗需要用对阵难缠对手的好成绩来证明球队仍在不断进步，另外，他的球队目前处于（世界杯欧洲区预选赛）第5组榜首，只需再胜一场即可出线，这种高歌猛进的态势也需要保持。
球队的良好状态使得队中许多球员都更加确信球队有能力在明年夏天的世界杯中取得好成绩，而且来自意大利的教头卡佩罗似乎已经成功驱散了为国效力的球员心中的恐慌感。
“在新教练的带领下，我们每个人都可以更畅快地带着自信踢球。如果我们能拿到南非的入场券，就有很大机会取胜，与其他强队没有什么不同。”英格兰队长特里说。“如果我们能像之前那样打下去，就绝不能无视英格兰捧杯的可能性。但我们必须继续进步。从（去年2月）输给西班牙的比赛中我们可以学到很多，要是我们轻松击败他们就不会得到这么多教训。现在我们再对阵那些最好的球队时也不会有心理问题。”
“我们在法比奥（卡佩罗）的带领下与一些强队对抗过，而且击败了他们。荷兰队技术上佳而且攻击很有威胁。防守也很坚固，所以这场比赛是很好的检验。但是，从前英格兰对阵强队时要是队员说没有压力那就是撒谎，现在这种压力已经完全不存在了。”
“我们已经跨过了心理障碍。我们不得不跨过它，而且我们做到了。我们不会过分自信，我们只是要从‘这是一场重要比赛’的现实中获得最大的激励。现在正是紧要关头。”
类似扬和科尔这样的球员之前在卡佩罗麾下只能扮演不起眼的小角色，而现在他们有了证明自己的绝佳机会。英格兰教练组将检查赫斯基和西奥·沃尔科特的健康状况（后者由于腹部斜肌拉伤，昨晚只能进行单独轻量训练），然后决定出场阵容。
大卫·贝克汉姆很可能代替阿森纳边锋出战，但主教练确认替代杰拉德的将会是扬。“我没法克隆一个史蒂夫出来，但阿什利是队中有盘带能力并且会过人的球员之一。”卡佩罗说。
“这非常重要。他在我接手球队后打了几场比赛，但现在他要在对抗世界上最好的国家队之一的比赛中出场，所以对他来说信心是非常重要的。他的表现对于本赛季的我们来说很重要。我会看很多场比赛。我每周都会看三四场比赛，但我还是需要更加确定。（被追问到如果英格兰出线，决赛圈的大名单将如何确定）球队的大门向每一个表现出色的球员开放。”
然而球队的大门已经在阿森纳守门员曼努埃尔·阿穆尼亚的面前砰的被关上了。这位守门员希望为英格兰，而非他的出生国西班牙效力，但他的这一愿望被意大利教头彻底击碎。“对我来说，阿穆尼亚是西班牙人。”当记者问到如果这位32岁的守门员能够拿到英格兰国籍，是否有机会入选英格兰队的时候，卡佩罗是这样回答的。“他是一个在阿森纳踢球的西班牙人。”