Capello cannot let England fail against Bulgaria

Should England lose tonight in their opening match of their Euro 2012 campaign and you can bet your bottom dollar that one of the tabloids will have Fabio Capello on its front page tomorrow mocked up as Uncle Bulgaria. The once venerated Italian reduced to a womble, but so low has Capello's stock fallen that nothing but a resounding victory against Bulgaria at Wembley will win over the press and public (and, if some of the rumours are to believed, many of the England players).

In theory England should have no problem disposing of their opponents, though didn't they say that about the USA and Algeria? Bulgaria last won a game at a major tournament at Euro '96 (a 1-0 defeat of Romania), and the 2004 Euro Championships was the last time they made an appearance at a tournament of note. Now a lowly 43rd in the FIFA world rankings, Bulgaria nonetheless have a reasonable record away in England, drawing three and losing two of their five matches.  But their main weapon, Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov, has retired from the international game and without him their attack looks limited. Their 96-capped midfielder Stiliyan Petrov is likely to be the only familiar name to English fans, the 31-year-old having been an Aston Villa regular since 2006.

But Bulgaria will run out at Wembley knowing their opponents have a short supply of self-confidence. Injury has shorn the England squad of Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch and there are no natural replacements for that experienced quartet. With the team's morale still low after their disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa – and the coach under pressure from the press - Bulgaria know there has never been a more opportune time to notch their first victory on English soil.

On the positive side for the hosts, defender Phil Jagielka and goalkeeper Ben Foster appear to have overcome knocks and both trained with the squad on Thursday, with Capello revealing that Jagielka will partner Matthew Upson in central defence. "I know that the central defenders will play for the first time together tomorrow," Capello said. "I hope they will be really focusing every moment of the game and I hope the full-backs Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson will help these two players, and also the midfield too."

Having been criticised in South Africa for withholding his final XI until two hours before matches, Capello has now dispensed with such secrecy and happily disclosed to reporters the bulk of his starting line-up for tonight’s game: "The keeper Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney, Steve Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Jagielka, more or less. I know 10 or 11, with a little doubt about one."

One player omitted from Capello's list but likely to start is Arsenal’s Theo Walcott. Discarded from the World Cup squad, the young winger has been in sparkling form so far this season, netting four times in the first three Premier League matches. "I had a nice break through the summer and everything has gone well," said Walcott, who added that he was expecting Bulgaria to provide stern resistance. "No game is easy at international level, we had a good result against Hungary [2-1 last month] and we managed to play well for the whole game. Sometimes the goals don't go in because people come to Wembley, a fantastic fortress, and they put people behind the ball so it can be very difficult to break them down. I think they'll be very organised on Friday but if we do the right things we can get a result."

A result is what England must get at Wembley or else Capello will likely be remembered as a womble. ·