Capello won´t rest England stars for last qualifiers

Fabio Capello insists he will not rest Wayne Rooney or any of England’s star players for his side’s final two World Cup qualifiers against the Ukraine and Belarus.

Capello, whose team have already qualified for South Africa 2010 with eight victories in their opening eight fixtures, had previously hinted that Rooney and Steven Gerrard in particular could be omitted in order to protect them from inury and to give other players an opportunity to press their case.

But now the Italian, who expects to call up Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor to replace injured Jermain Defoe when he names his squad on Sunday, says he will put out full-strength sides in Dnipropetrovsk on October 10 and at Wembley four days later.

“I want to play with the best players in the first half always,” Capello said. “The best eleven of that moment. After, in the second half, it is possible I will make some substitutions.

“But for me, it is not a friendly game and not for experiments. It’s to confirm what we made during the World Cup qualification.

“I think it will be important to stay together, to train together and speak about the silly mistakes we have made in previous games.”

That doesn’t mean, however, that places are not still available in England’s World Cup squad and Capello says he is currently looking at a pool of between 35 and 37 players.

But with limited opportunities to shine in international football between now and next May he has warned players they will have to make an impact quickly.

He said: “For this reason, the next games are important for me. We play only 12 games a year and before the World Cup squad is announced we play only four games – these two and the other against Brazil (in Qatar in November) and another we have to choose which country.

“It is possible that some new players will play one of these next two games. I don’t know if it will be the first or the second match. But I want to see the team improve because we have to play really well in the games before the World Cup.”

Aston Villa’s Agbonlahor, is in pole position to be the first player to be handed an opportunity after scoring five goals for his club this campaign and putting last season?s dip in form behind him.

Manchester United’s Michael Carrick has strengthened his case with an impressive performance against Wolfsburg in the Champions League.

Capello said: “With young players sometimes they play well and sometimes not well. We have to wait always for them to be more confident with the national team and their own team.

“I was a young player once and know the problems you can find. But now we follow Agbonlahor and he is in a really good moment.

“As for Carrick I saw him for Manchester United in the Champions League and he played very well. It possible he will play one of the next two games.”

Meanwhile Capelllo is set to invite every player who has been involved in England’s World Cup campaign to join the party for the final game against Belarus.

Capello has asked the FA to send out an invitation to anyone who has been selected during the campaign, even those who didn’t make it on the pitch.

“We will invite everyone, all the players to come and join us for Belarus. We want everybody to come,” Capello said.

Capello believes it is a good way of building team spirit and emphasizing that every English player still has an opporutnity to earn a place in his World Cup squad.

That includes Chelsea’s Joe Cole who is back from a nine-month injury lay-off but not regarded as fit enough for an international call-up.

It also includes Manchester United star Michael Owen who will once again miss out this time because of a groin injury.

“The door is still open for all players,” insisted Capello. “I have to follow all of England?s best players. I am selecting from more or less 35 or 37 players.

“That includes Owen – I went to watch him in Manchester but he was injured and if he does not play he cannot be here.”