I want England v Italy final - Fabio Capello

Fabio Capello

Fabio Capello last night revealed he is praying England face Italy in the World Cup final.

The Three Lions boss is convinced his team are capable of beating the best on the planet.

And the Italian insisted he dreams of leading England to a World Cup triumph against his countrymen in South Africa on July 11 next year.

He said: "I would love a final between England and Italy. For Italy, for me and for all of us.

"The strangest moment will be during the national anthems. But, I am wearing a different shirt now and I must work for the England shirt.

"My team is strong. The fans are proud of what we've done, as are we. There's a World Cup to play for and our goal is to reach the final.

"We will be competitive and I repeat: We can play with our head held high against the best teams in the world."

Amazingly, England and four-time world champions Italy have only met once at the World Cup - despite featuring in the same finals 11 times since we first took part in 1950.

Fate has kept the two nations apart, with the only meeting being the largely meaningless third-place play-off at Italia 90, which the hosts won 2-1.

They have locked horns twice in qualifying campaigns, however, with mixed results. Italy edged us out in qualification for the 1978 finals in Argentina, even though England finished off their campaign with a 2-0 Wembley win.

Under Glenn Hoddle, England lost 1-0 at Wembley early on in the race to reach France 98.

But they hit back to seal automatic qualification after Paul Ince and Co got an heroic goal-less draw in Rome, with the Italians only making it via the play-offs.