Capello banking on month-long stint together to prepare England

Although the Three Lions fought back from a half-time deficit to beat Egypt at Wembley on Wednesday night, there were elements of their performance that were disappointing.

Theo Walcott struggled at times on the right while, as individuals, all four members of England's defence had some shaky moments.

Frank Lampard, for once, was ineffective and the forward partnership of Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe did not appear to work.

It took the introductions of Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who between them scored England's three goals, plus Michael Carrick to turn Capello's side into an effective unit.

Yet, facing a team who won the African Nations Cup for the third time in a row only last month, and after just one day's decent training, Capello declared himself satisfied.

The Italian knows the next time he gets his players together again, on May 17 for the first of two altitude training camps in Austria, they will be in his sole care until departure for South Africa and a date with destiny.

"Having the players for a month will be really important," he said. "We can practice different styles, different positions on the pitch and also to prepare set pieces, which I could not do before this game. When we play the first game of the World Cup, we will be ready."

Capello claims to have whittled down to 30 the number of players competing for places in his final 23-man squad.

That does not account for injuries, of which Ashley Cole and Aaron Lennon are his biggest concerns at present.

And obviously, Capello, though a clear-thinking strategist, is capable of altering his view.

In the bowels of Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night, he remarked on a seemingly insatiable demand to know what conclusions he had reached, only to be reminded that prior to the Holland game in August, he had declared David James to be his undisputed goalkeeping No 1.

"You always ask me 'have I decided, have I decided?'," retorted Capello when asked whether Robert Green was his No 1, before conceding: "Perhaps I have changed my mind," when his statement on James was pointed out.

"I know the value of James," he added. "Green is a good keeper but he needs to play more games. The last game he played was against Ukraine."

No one reminded Capello that apart from replacing Green following his dismissal that night in Dnipro, James has not played for his country in a year and that out-of-favour Manchester United man Ben Foster had started England's last two games.

It had been nearly as long since Walcott began a game for England too.

With competition from Wright-Phillips, Lennon and the evergreen David Beckham, Walcott was eager to make an impression.

The Arsenal winger did enjoy a good early run, when he burst through the Egyptian back four and set Lampard up with an opportunity he should have buried.

After that, it was back to the type of form that has seen Walcott consigned to the substitutes' bench at Arsenal.

"When you don't play a lot of games and then you get the chance to start one you try to do impossible things," reflected Capello. "But Theo is still one of the important players.

"He is one of the faster players. I remember his performances before he got injured. He still has time to improve."

Although he earned the praise of his manager, debutant Leighton Baines was somewhat average at left-back, which means Capello will have to try to heal Wayne Bridge's gaping mental wounds while hoping Cole recovers from his broken ankle.

Capello, right, is now forced to sit back and wait, as the fight for the Premier League title, a place in the top four, survival, Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup reach their conclusion.