I want to stress one point, which few around the England camp like to talk about, Croatia have never lost a World Cup or European qualifying encounter since there emergence and recognition as a nation in 1994.
England with largely the same squad as the qualifying campaign last term, managed a 3-2 loss on the hallowed grounds of Wembley and prior to that decimated our defence to win convincingly 2-0.
It does not bode well for an England side who are only marginally favourites going into this encounter, but any William Hill press releases, they release between now and Wednesday, will only act as a foil, for the inevitability that this one night in Croatia will sure as hell be dramatic.
"I think we have got unfinished business with Croatia," said Terry, stressing what our English Nation likes to call "Getting Our Own Back"; but in 35 clean sweeps Croatia have never succumbed to any "Get Back" or any grunge that Dave Benson-Phillips could throw at them. "...you just try and rise to the challenge whenever you go back to a ground where you have bad memories. We know it's difficult and we know they have not been beaten there for a long time." 35 games to be exact - we may as well make it 36.
If anyone says Andorra was a test, they are lying through their teeth. It wasn't even close and any praise that could be lavished on any player was misguided, especially, on the Usain Bolt- Esq appearance of a certain Messes Walcott who for 20 minutes may have broken the 10 second barrier continuously, but on the footballing side, unintelligent and technically deficient.
They say Capello has a selection problem - yet the criteria for a selection problem would suggest we are favourites, but we're not even close, not with a 4-4-2. His ideal selection problem should be formation - Croatia thrive on their continuous flow between their midfield and their attack yet England's inability to modernise their game and play with a verve and style will leave them stuck in a soliloquy aided by Radiohead's "No Surprises".
Fact is we don't need Wednesday Night to tell us that we aren't world beaters, not even close, not even quite.
Reporter: Will we win?
Cappello: "I think so"
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