Capello: I relish bigger World Cup tests to come for England

Fabio Capello admits he relishes the 'bigger challenges' as England prepare for the first real test of their World Cup qualifying campaign against Croatia in Zagreb on Wednesday.

And the Italian insisted he would not be setting out to try and play for a share of the spoils, instead putting the emphasis on collecting three points against Slaven Bilic's side.

Capello conceded he did not enjoy Saturday's clash with minnows Andorra, who often put nine players behind the ball in a bid to frustrate England before two goals from substitute Joe Cole broke their resistance after half-time in Barcelona.

But Croatia will be a different challenge with their skill and technical ability as England look to avenge the two defeats that meant they failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.

Capello said: 'It was not easy to find the space against Andorra because they had nine players always near their penalty box. It was impossible to find the space and they were just running down the clock.

'Wednesday will be a difficult game but more exciting. I prefer the difficult games. Saturday against Andorra was a very dangerous game but I like the bigger challenges.

'Croatia are playing at home and they have to play forward. They have to try and score goals. They will be strong and the level of the quality of the players will be better and more dangerous.

'I followed Croatia a lot in the European Championships. They are a good team and, when they play at home, the fans help the players a lot. Their fans are very strong in terms of emotion and passion.

'But we are good enough to get a result and I have confidence in my team.'

Capello insisted Wayne Rooney is not becoming frustrated at his inability to hit peak form for England.

Rooney has netted only five times for his country since the start of the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Against Andorra on Saturday he again failed to stand out against the part-timers, although it was his reverse pass that laid on the second of Cole's two goals.

But Capello believes top players need time at the beginning of a campaign to hit form and that Rooney will relish having more room to manoeuvre against Croatia.

He said: 'The game against Andorra was not the perfect game for Rooney. He did one fantastic pass for the second goal and also one other in the first half for Theo Walcott.

'But he needs space. Rooney needs space to work. I hope in the next game, he will find the space against a team who will not have nine players behind the ball for most of the game.'