Capello angry with Cole & Rooney

England coach Fabio Capello revealed he vented his fury at Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney for not following his orders during the 2-0 win away to Andorra.

Cole spared the Italian's blushes when he came off the bench to earn England a narrow win in the World Cup qualifier.

Capello said: "I was not happy with Joe and Wayne Rooney.

"I was asking them to go forward again because Emile Heskey was all on his own. I tried to transmit something to them but I was too far from the pitch."

Cole's goals did not save him from the wrath of Capello and the pair exchanged strong words as England struggled to break down the European minnows in the second half.

Capello said he had asked both Rooney and Cole to support Heskey up front, but felt that once they had gone 2-0 the pair were dropping too deep into midfield.

However, after the game Capello admitted he was happy overall with the impact of winger Cole.

It was the second time that Cole had bailed out Capello after snatching a last-gasp equaliser in the friendly international with the Czech Republic at Wembley last month.

"I have got to think about Joe," said Capello. "He is very good for himself at the moment and very good for us
Cole at this moment is scoring goals for fun."

Capello feels the hard-earned win will have given them confidence ahead of Wednesday's tricky qualifier against Croatia.

"I'm happy because we played a good game and made a lot of chances," said the 62-year-old Italian.

"I'm happy because it's an important three points. It's a good sign for the Croatia game."

The Italian also paid tribute to the early impact of Arsenal's 19-year-old winger Theo Walcott, who made his first start for England and was one of the few bright sparks on a tough night for the visitors.

"We played well for the first 15 to 20 minutes and had two chances to score goals," he said.


"But after not taking one or two chances to score a goal we started playing too slowly. It was not easy to find space when you have opposition putting nine players behind the ball.
"Near the box it was impossible to find space. But in the second half I changed it.

"For about 15 minutes Theo Walcott was incredible. He's an interesting player. We'll have to wait to see if he plays against Croatia on Wednesday."

The England XI were jeered by their own fans when they came off at half-time after what was a nervy display inside the Olympic Stadium against a team 186th in the world rankings.

Cole believes the England supporters will see a different performance from the national team when they make the trip to Zagreb.

"People look at it on paper and say it's an easy game," he said.

"They got 10 men behind the ball and it was a sticky pitch. It was our first qualifier and our confidence was low.

"But we got the job done in the end. Anyone who has come here and played on this sticky pitch knows it's not easy.

"Judge the team after the Wednesday's game, because Croatia are ranked fifth in the world. Tonight's game and Wednesday's game will be two completely different animals."

bbc.co.uk/football