Football - UK focus

Fabio Capello, who enjoyed huge success as coach of Milan and Real Madrid, is now confirming his tactical knowledge and leadership qualities at the helm of the English national team.

After the significant 3-1 win over Belarus in Minsk, Capello steered England to a remarkable record of four straight wins in their opening World Cup qualifiers.

The media and the fans welcomed Capello's appointment as England coach after Steve McClaren failed to lead England to the finals of Euro 2008.

Sir Bobby Charlton, a Manchester United and England legend, was among the first to praise Capello. Charlton has likened the Italian to World Cup winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey.

Sven-Goran Eriksson also had a series of highs during his England reign but the team's latest showings suggest that Capello can indeed take the Three Lions all the way to World Cup success.

Charlton, who was part of that formidable 1966 World Cup-winning team dubbed as the wingless heroes, remarked that the current national team boss shared his former manager's no-nonsense attitude and firm approach with the players.

Charlton, who was interviewed by the English newspaper The Independent, said:

"He's the first England manager since Alf who has been the real boss.

"Bobby Robson got them to a semi-final in 1990 and he's a marvellous character who knew the game backwards but his approach was different, not as firm.

"Alf was ruthless, but he was also a great motivator, a great tactician and a meticulous planner.

"I haven't seen anyone else like that until this man."

Record of England managers

Hereunder is the data how England managers fared in their first four World Cup qualifiers:

• Walter Winterbottom (1946-62) debut September 28, 1946:

October 15, 1949 - Wales 4-1 (Mortensen, Milburn 3) in Cardiff.

November 16, 1949 − Northern Ireland 9-2 (Mortensen 2, Rowley J. 4, Pearson 2, Froggatt) in Manchester.

April 15, 1950 − Scotland 1-0 (Bentley) in Glasgow.

Qualifying schedule consisted only of three internationals.

• Winterbottom

October 10, 1953 − Wales 4-1 (Lofthouse 2, Wilshaw 2) in Cardiff.

November 11, 1953 − Northern Ireland 3-1 (Lofthouse, Hassall 2) in Liverpool (Everton).

April 3, 1954 − Scotland 4-2 (Broadis, Allen R., Nicholls, Mullen) in Glasgow.

• Winterbottom

December 5, 1956 − Denmark 5-2 (Taylor T. 3, Edwards 2) in Wolverhampton.

May 8, 1957 − Ireland 5-1 (Atyeo 2, Taylor T. 3) at Wembley.

May 15, 1957 − Denmark 4-1 (Atyeo, Taylor T. 2, Haynes) in Copenhagen.

May 19, 1957 − Ireland 1-1 (Atyeo).

• Winterbottom

October 19, 1960 − Luxembourg 9-0 (Greaves 3, Smith R. 2, Haynes, Charlton R. 3) in Luxembourg.

May 21, 1961− Portugal 1-1 (Flowers) in Lisbon.

September 28, 1961 − Luxembourg 4-1 (Pointer, Viollett, Charlton R. 2) in London (Arsenal).

October 25, 1961 − Portugal 2-0 (Connelly, Pointer) at Wembley.

• Sir Alfred Ramsey (1963-74) debut February 27, 1963:

November 15, 1972 − Wales 1-0 (Bell) in Cardiff.

January 24, 1973 − Scotland 5-0 (Channon, Chivers, Clarke A. 2, Lorimer og) in Glasgow.

June 6, 1973 − Poland 0-2 in Chorzow.

October 17, 1973 − Poland 1-1 (Clarke A.) at Wembley.

• Don Revie (1974-77) debut October 30, 1974:

June 13, 1976 − Finland 4-1 (Keegan 2, Pearson, Channon) in Helsinki.

October 13, 1976 − Finland 2-1 (Royle, Tuert) at Wembley.

November 17, 1976 − Italy 0-2 in Rome.

March 30, 1977 − Luxembourg 5-0 (Kennedy, Keegan, Channon 2, Francis T.) at Wembley.

• Ron Greenwood (1977-82) debut September 7, 1977:

September 10, 1980 − Norway 4-0 (McDermott 2, Woodcock, Mariner) at Wembley.

October 15, 1980 − Romania 1-2 (Woodcock) in Bucharest.

November 19, 1980 − Switzerland 2-1 (Tanner og, Mariner) at Wembley.

April 29, 1981 − Romania 0-0 at Wembley.

• Bobby Robson (1982-90) debut September 8, 1982:

October 17, 1984 − Finland 5-0 (Hateley 2, Woodcock, Robson, Sansom) at Wembley.

November 14, 1984 − Turkey 8-0 (Robson 3, Woodcock 2, Barnes 2, Anderson) in Istanbul.

February 27, 1985 − Northern Ireland 1-0 (Hateley) in Belfast.

May 1, 1985 − Romania 0-0 in Bucharest.

• Robson

October 19, 1988 − Sweden 0-0 at Wembley.

March 8, 1989 − Albania 2-0 (Barnes, Robson) in Tirana,

April 26, 1989 − Albania 5-0 (Beardsley 2, Lineker, Waddle, Gascoigne) at Wembley.

June 3, 1989 − Poland 3-0 (Lineker, Barnes, Webb) at Wembley.

• Graham Taylor (1990-93) debut September 12, 1990:

October 14, 1992 − Norway 1-1 (Platt) at Wembley.

November 18, 1992 − Turkey 4-0 (Pearce, Gascoigne 2, Shearer) at Wembley.

February 17, 1993 − San Marino 6-0 (Platt 4, Palmer, Ferdinand) at Wembley.

March 31, 1993 − Turkey 2-0 (Gascoigne, Platt) in Izmir.

• Glenn Hoddle (1996-99) debut September 1, 1996:

September 1, 1996 − Moldova 3-0 (Gascoigne, Shearer, Barmby) in Chisinau.

October 9, 1996 − Poland 2-1 (Shearer 2) at Wembley.

November 9, 1996 − Georgia 2-0 (Sheringham, Ferdinand) in Tbilisi.

February 12, 1997 − Italy 0-1 at Wembley.

• Kevin Keegan started the 2002 World Cup campaign with a 0-1 defeat to Germany at Wembley. Caretaker Howard Wilkinson was in charge for the second qualifier which ended in a 0-0 draw against Finland in Helsinki.

• Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001-06) debut February 28, 2001. He guided the side to successive wins in the next two matches:

March 24, 2001 − Finland 2-1 (Owen, Beckham) in Liverpool (Anfield).

March 28, 2001 − Albania 3-1 (Owen, Scholes, A. Cole) in Tirana.

• Eriksson

September 4, 2004 − Austria 2-2 (Lampard, Gerrard) in Vienna.

September 8, 2004 − Poland 2-1 (Defoe, Glowacki og) in Warsaw.

October 9, 2004 − Wales 2-0 (Lampard, Beckham) in Manchester (Old Trafford).

October 13, 2004 − Azerbaijan 1-0 (Owen) in Baku.

• Fabio Capello (2008-) debut February 6, 2008:

September 6, 2008 − Andorra 2-0 (J. Cole 2) in Barcelona.

September 10, 2008 − Croatia 4-1 (Walcott 3, Rooney) in Zagreb.

October 11, 2008 − Kazakhstan 5-1 (Ferdinand, Kuchma og, Rooney 2, Defoe) at Wembley.

October 15, 2008 − Belarus 3-1 (Gerrard, Rooney 2) in Minsk.

England's remaining matches

April 1, 2009: Home vs Ukraine.

June 6, 2009: Away vs Kazakhstan.

June 10, 2009: Home vs Andorra.

September 9, 2009: Home vs Croatia.

October 10, 2009: Away vs Ukraine.

October 14, 2009: Home vs Belarus.