I can make England the best team in the world insists new boss Capello

The 61-year-old Italian does not officially take up his post as Steve McClaren's successor until January 7 but will spend the intervening time brushing up on his new charges and taking a crash course in English.

Yet Capello needed no homework whatsoever to recognise England's fortunes are at a low ebb, embarrassingly dumped out of Euro 2008 at the qualifying stage despite boasting a supposed 'golden generation' of superstar players.

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It is Capello's task to improve England's standing - and he intends to do so by making it cool to pull on the white shirt again.

He explained: "Wearing the England shirt should be a matter of pride.

"There is not enough faith in the national squad and what it can achieve.

"I want to see the players play for England like they do for their clubs.

"It is a very big job because it is a very big shirt they are wearing.

"I want to meet the players and the club coaches in the Premier League, but I get the feeling that nobody has trust or faith in the national team anymore. I do have trust and faith. The team can go right to the top."

He added that although he played for Italy 32 times, he never had any ambition to coach the Italian national team. Asked how he would feel if England played Italy he said: "I would be very happy to meet Italy in the World Cup final in South Africa."

How to achieve such a seemingly straightforward ambition is a conundrum which has proved impossible for a succession of England coaches to solve.

Glenn Hoddle might have done it had he stayed in the job long enough, while Sven-Goran Eriksson and McClaren, to a lesser and greater extent, did not really come close.

Yet, as McClaren opined during the time of his abrupt departure, England's failure to reach next summer's Finals in Austria and Switzerland could actually work in his successor's favour.

Two friendlies, Capello's first match in charge against Switzerland at Wembley on February 6, and a trip to Paris for an encounter with France the following month, are already arranged, with two more to follow at the end of the season.

After that, Capello expects to have a much clearer idea of England's strengths and weaknesses ahead of the start of a bid to reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next autumn.

"I am very lucky to be able to play until next autumn without the pressure and scrutiny of qualification games," he said.

"I have four games before June when I will be able to experiment but more importantly form a group which regains a mentality and a philosophy in the national squad that can get the results.

"English footballers have a will to win and love for their country. It is a question of getting it out of them."

With nine league titles on an impressive CV boasting stints at Juventus, AC Milan and Real Madrid - where he worked with David Beckham - understandably, Capello has plenty of faith in his own ability.

While a cynic would suggest there are 6.5million reasons every year why Capello wanted the England job so badly, his brusque dismissal of any lifetime desire to coach his own country was also in keeping with the reputation of a man who is unlikely to be deflected from his task by outside influences, a situation which has existed too often in the past.

Capello saw no need to defend the immediate appointment of four Italians to his coaching staff, pointing out the quartet had been with him throughout his success.

"I need to be surrounded by people who understand me and my methods," he said.

Equally, Capello is committed to having some English involvement, with discussions due to take place with FA director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking over precisely who it will be, with current England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce the early favourite.

"It is vital we have somebody who understands the football situation here, and the environment, and has the language to help," he said.

In the scheme of things, Capello's 'excellent' relationship with Arsene Wenger does not count for much given the only players Arsenal could conceivably supply to the England squad over the Italian's likely four-and-a-half year reign are Theo Walcott, Justin Hoyte and Youth international Henri Lansbury.

Of more importance are his dealings with Sir Alex Ferguson, Rafael Benitez and new Tottenham coach Juande Ramos.

"We have had meetings where all the European coaches meet up and I've always had fantastic relationships with them," he said.

"There will be no problem in working alongside them all."

Capello will return home for the Festive period before returning ahead of his first official duty, attending the World Cup fixtures meeting in Zagreb next month.

Much like McClaren, he intends to work his way around the country, meeting players and getting their views on why results have gone so badly wrong over recent times.

"I have to watch all the England qualifying games and try and find out what happened by talking to the players," he reflected.

"It was not my decision to go for a foreign manager, that was a choice of the FA.

"But it is an honour to be the coach of the England team. It is a job everyone wants and it is a dream come true to get it.

"There are great expectations with the job but I am convinced this is a great team and that it can go right to the top."