Fabio Capello

England followed up their 3-1 victory over Mexico with an unconvincing 2-1 win over Japan in Graz, Austria on Sunday, courtesy of two own goals from the Japanese.

Capello currently has a 30-man squad, with plenty of grey areas in terms of who the press feel may get the chop when the final squad is announced on Tuesday.

But the Italian tactician has confessed that his mind was made up before the two friendlies, with only doubts about the fitness of Gareth Barry giving him any cause to change his final squad.

“I know the 22 players who are in mind. They are the same 22 that I decided last week. Nothing has changed,” he said.

“We have to wait for Gareth Barry. We will decide on him after we have had the final check to see how long it will be before he can train with us.

“We have to know everything about this situation but I am not disappointed my mind is still the same.”

England kick-off their World Cup Group C campaign with a potentially tricky match against the USA on Saturday June 12 in Rustenburg (England 1/14 to qualify) before taking on Algeria in Cape Town on Friday June 18 and Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday June 23.

Capello will want to keep his squad as fresh and fit as possible throughout the group games and may well include players who are versatile enough to fill in when injuries occur.

He is known to be a fan of Chelsea’s Joe Cole and his comments that Cole “played very well in the second half” against Japan may have been more than a hint that the former West Ham star might get the nod for South Africa.

Only Spain (4/1 Outright) and Brazil (9/2) are ahead of England in the market, with Diego Maradona’s Argentina 7/1 to win the prestigious for the first time since 1986.

England have only been to the semi-finals once since their win in 1966 but now have one of the most respected managers in the game in charge going into the pressure cooker atmosphere of the World Cup.

Managing the likes of Wayne Rooney (6/4 to be England’s top goalscorer) will be vital as England can ill afford to lose a player of his quality to a red card.

Four years ago in Germany the Manchester United striker was sent off for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.

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