Croatia v England preview: Capello counts down to World Cup: 4-3-2-1...

As preparation for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier in Croatia, which Fabio Capello rightly regards as the toughest game in the group, last night's fixture with Andorra could hardly have been less relevant.

A match against feeble opposition on neutral territory, in which a majority of possession is guaranteed, is not an ideal rehearsal for meeting talented opponents who will take the game to you in front of 40,000 patriotic locals. The best Capellocould hope for was a psychological boost, enabling the squad to go to Zagreb with the sort of confidence that he believes they have often lacked when pulling on the white shirt of Englandinstead of Chelsea blue or Manchester United red.

The starting XI on Wednesday should again include seven or eight of those players from the two leading English clubs. It is a much higher proportion, for instance, than Spain fielded from any two teams while winning the European Championship this summer, yet too often they have failed to transfer club form to national service.

This mental block needs to be overcome quickly, for there is also a psychological aspect to the outcome of the Croatia game and the mood it will engender over the next year until Slaven Bilic's side visit Wembley again in exactly 12 months' time.

A win, or deserved draw, and a country reduced to pessimistic cynicism about the national team will start to believe in Capello and take new heart – as will the players – into next month's games at home to Kazakhstan and away to Belarus, which are the only other qualifying games before next April. Lose, as England did twice in a year to Croatia under Steve McClaren, and morale will sink to a new low, negating any temporary improvement in self-belief. Unfortunately, what was known even before last night is that at least two key players will be missing from midfield alone. Owen Hargreaves' recurrent tendinitis is not only a concern for Manchester United, but it illustrates how pitifully few players in his adopted country are capable of playing the role of defensive midfielder.

It is one that has become a crucial part of the modern game; so much so that many teams field two of them. Yet England are likely to go into Wednesday's game using Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry, two players whose most natural inclination is to go forward at every opportunity.

Had Barry moved from Aston Villa to Liverpool in the summer and replaced Xabi Alonso, he would by now be growing used to a deeper role. So while it was in many ways good for the game that he stayed put at a club other than the big four, it does not help England. Against the Czech Republic last month, Barry's tactical indiscipline was one reason for the swift opposition counter-attacking that Capello identified as a worrying factor.

The Czechs were chosen for that friendly because they supposedly play the same way as Croatia; a truer comparison would have been to play in Prague, but Wembley must pay its way and Premier League managers who are already unsympathetic to the recent concept of August internationals would be even more put out by overseas ones. Welcome to the realpolitik of English football, Fabio.

Another part of it is that those club managers, not England's, choose the time for players to have operations. Liverpool's Rafa Benitez was quite open about that fact when deciding that Steven Gerrard would have his troublesome groin seen to in the fortnight's gap between League matches. Gerrard may or may not be ready to play against Manchester United on Saturday, but he will certainly not be in Zagreb.

The options in his absence depend on how Capello wants to align his midfield. If he sticks to the 4-3-2-1 that he insists was how England played against the Czechs (and if that game was a dress rehearsal, it would be odd not to) then Joe Cole would fill the Gerrard role alongside Wayne Rooney, just behind Jermain Defoe. It is a position that Cole has always liked and would give him the opportunity to demonstrate his worth to a manager who has so far seemed unconvinced by it.

The other option would be a five-man midfield spread across the pitch, with David Beckham (or David Bentley) and Rooney on the flanks and a trio between them that might feature Jermaine Jenas rather than Cole. Still no naturally defensive player; at Tottenham Jenas is more used to Tom Huddlestone doing that job, but he was picked for the Under-21s again and, unlike Theo Walcott, did not suddenly find himself promoted to the seniors.

That unexpected elevation suggested a place had been left open for Owen as long as he proved to the watching Capello and Franco Baldini at Arsenal last Saturday that he was fit and worth it. By giving a poor performance in an admittedly poor Newcastle team, Owen lost his chance. Capello has insisted that 100 per cent fitness is a primary requirement for inclusion in his squads. Come the 70th minute in Zagreb with England a goal down, the choice would therefore come down to sending on Emile Heskey or young Walcott. Frustrated viewers back in Blighty, and not just on Tyneside, might just feel like pressing the interactive button to vote for a man with 40 international goals to his name.

The story so far

24 April 1996: England 0 Croatia 0, Wembley.

20 August 2003: England 3 (Beckham, Owen, Lampard) Croatia 1 (Mornar), Portman Road.

21 June 2004: England 4 (Scholes, Rooney 2, Lampard) Croatia 2 (N Kovac, Tudor), Lisbon.

11 Oct 2006: Croatia 2 (Eduardo, G Neville og) England 0, Zagreb.

21 Nov 2007: England 2 (Lampard pen, Crouch) Croatia 3 (Kranjcar, Olic, Petric), Wembley.

Watch England take on Croatia on Setanta Sports 1 on Wednesday, kick-off 8pm

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