Capello unsure how to boost team's mental strength

WATFORD, England (AP):

England coach Fabio Capello blamed his team's early World Cup exit on a lack of confidence, and said yesterday he didn't know how to restore it.

"The mind of the players is key to everything," the Italian coach said. "I don't know what we have to do to improve the minds of the players. At this moment I do not know. We did not play with confidence, we played with fear."

England will face Hungary tomorrow in a friendly at Wembley Stadium, and Capello retained only 10 players for that match from the squad that lost to Germany in the second round of the World Cup in South Africa.

"I know the players I left out very well," Capello said. "At this moment I have to change something, but who knows what will happen in the future. Maybe I will decide to put them in the squad another time."

Capello, who is expecting his team to be jeered when they walk out onto the field at Wembley, needs to figure out what needs to be done to transform England before qualifying begins for the 2012 European Championship.

"I think they can boo us when the game starts but after a short time I hope they get behind us," Capello said. "On Wednesday we will play against a team with good organisation in Hungary. It will be important to see something new on the pitch. It will be important for me, the crowd, for everyone. That is why it will be a really interesting game.

"It is possible we will see something new ... but no system is good if the players are not in good form. We got criticised for playing with a 4-4-2 in South Africa, but I saw yesterday (in the Community Shield between Manchester United and Chelsea) the old style, with wingers."

Capello has called up three players for the first time: Arsenal duo Jack Wilshere, 18, and Kieran Gibbs, 20, along with 29-year-old Fulham striker Bobby Zamora.

Different playing

"We have to monitor these young players and check their personalities," Capello said. "The England shirt is different. It is different playing at Wembley compared to other stadiums. The pressure is really high. I want to know the reaction of all the players.

"These players that I have chosen are really good. They are young. I monitored them last year. Gibbs and Wilshere are the younger ones. They have done very well in preseason. The quality of these players is really high. It is interesting for me to get to know these players. Zamora is not young but he is a good player."

Capello's plans to rebuild the team will go ahead without goalkeeper Paul Robinson and defender Wes Brown, who marked their international recalls by announcing Sunday that they were quitting the team.

"The decisions to retire are individual decisions, which I respect," Capello said. "Robinson said he prefers to stay at home. I spoke with Brown. I told him that I did not pick him in the squad for South Africa because he did not play in the two months before.

"I picked him in this squad because he had played all the games in preseason. He said, 'Thank you for everything but I prefer to stay at home and not play with the national team'."

England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign begins in September with matches against Bulgaria and Switzerland.