Cole puts his faith in Capello to deliver the goods

ENGLAND'S players did not see any big cats on their South African safari Tuesday – instead it was Three Lions leader Fabio Capello who bared his teeth.

His unfortunate victim was a photographer he felt was prying into the treatment room adjoining the pitch where Capello's players go through their paces.

Apparently, already piqued by having that supposedly relaxing safari trek disturbed by the presence of a dozen photographers and camera crews, Capello snapped at England's Royal Bafokeng training base.

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"Why do you take photos of the rooms? No excuses," barked Capello before glaring angrily at his prey.

It could be regarded as evidence of pressure after a fraught week that started with a tournament-ending knee injury to captain Rio Ferdinand and delivered a wretched first-half display in Monday's practice match with the Platinum Stars, when Wayne Rooney's conduct was condemned by the local referee.

But that view would be at odds with the one Joe Cole has witnessed behind closed doors.

And it will not shake the midfielder's faith in a manager he rates on the same level as Jose Mourinho.

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"Fabio Capello is the best manager I have worked with for England," he said. "I put him alongside Mourinho as one of the two best managers I have worked with. He has an aura.

"He knows his way round a football pitch, his tactical knowledge goes without saying and his preparation is spot-on. You don't want to let him down."

Cole is delighted to have fallen into the arms of a manager who believes in him again.

On the day Chelsea ended his seven-season association with the Stamford Bridge outfit, the 28-year-old vowed not to spill the beans on his annus horribilis until England's World Cup campaign is over. But it is clear he is still hurt by what has happened since recovering from a serious knee injury. The lack of Chelsea games almost costing him a World Cup spot.

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"For the five years before my injury I was more or less a regular for England and all of a sudden people were patting me on the back for getting in a 30-man squad," he reflected. "What I need in my career is a manager who will give me the feeling that 'you are going to play here', that faith.

"When you are in certain situations, you feel on trial at times. It got to the point where I was coming on for 10 minutes (at Chelsea) and I had to try and do something special. But you can't always be trying to impress someone. You have to try and win a game. That is when things happen."

The intensity from the start of every training session is obvious and the presence of everyone apart from the regularly absent Ledley King and James Milner, who has recovered from a minor virus, for the latest session means that Capello is set to be picking from strength when he eventually unveils the line-up that will begin England's latest tilt at the biggest prize.

Few would claim the current crop of England players are the best on show in South Africa. Even Cole accepts Spain have the best squad, and jokingly said the press were just trying to scare him by letting him see David Silva's brilliant second goal in the 6-0 win over Poland last night.

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But the game is changing. And dominating possession, as Spain like to do, is no longer viewed as the best route to victory.

"Spain are different class but it is not always the best team that wins," he said. "There are a lot of other factors; discipline, strength of character, a little bit of luck, they will all come into play.

"And Inter Milan won the Champions League but I don't think they had the majority of possession in any game from the quarter-final onwards.

"Even in the final, Bayern Munich had 60 per cent of the ball but Inter were comfortable. You don't need the ball to control the pace of a game."

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And if they do that, Cole is confident England have the players to strike quickly.

"It might not be pretty but Inter showed the way that it is done and with Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Aaron Lennon we are a force going forward," he continued. "Xavi and (Andres) Iniesta are the best midfielders at what they do but Gerrard and Lampard are the best at what they do. It just shows the different cultures.

"This squad has got the experience of being in tournaments before, everyone is coming to the right age and both Rooney and Gerrard are fit.

"If we can have that little bit of luck, we can go all the way. I believe we can. I am convinced we can. I have got faith in these boys."