Capello hopes to keep players fresh for Euros

England manager Fabio Capello hopes that his squad for Euro 2012 will be in top physical condition come the summer.

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard have missed the majority of matches during qualification, while Capello has already revealed that he plans to learn from mistakes made at the 2010 World Cup by allowing his players a rest before the tournament.

England have already qualified for the finals in Poland and Ukraine, having gone through this year unbeaten.

“England is one of the good teams. The results are really good. It will be interesting to arrive at the Euros with the same spirit, the young players and also some important players with more experience like Wilshere, Steven Gerrard, in top condition,” he said.

“I hope at the end of the season my players will be like in this moment – fast, fresh. The problem of England has always been we arrive [at tournaments] tired.”

The Italian also believes that, given the quality of the sides who have qualified, the tournament could prove a more difficult task than the World Cup in South Africa.

“At the moment it is tougher than the World Cup,” he said.

“Three of the [top] four teams at the World Cup, the first, second and third [Spain, Netherlands, Germany], all come from Europe and there are Russia, France, Portugal, other important teams.”