Capello Craves Caravaning to Croatia: Why England's Boss Loves to Play Away

England are set to take on Croatian in Zagreb on Wednesday and Fabio Capello is excited for the away fixture.

In football home advantage is an important aspect, not only to the general atmosphere of the fans, but to the opposing team as well. World Cup qualifiers are no different.

However, Fabio Capello sees things a bit differently. He is happy to play in Croatia, because he feels like the team does not play with enough confidence when they  at Wembley.

Capello's claims can certainly be justified to an extent. When you walk off the pitch to a stadium full of booing at half time, then of course your confidence will go out the window.

However, there is no logic to his claim that the team will play better in Croatia. Does he think that since the team cannot speak Croatian that they will not recognize when they are being taunted?

These chants will not be friendly ones for the most part and depending on the capacity of the stadium, it could very well get to the players.

The Croatian Experience

This game will be an experience for England. Can they finally snag a win against Croatia?

It is likely that the game will come down to a tie or a Croatian victory. No matter how many team talks are given, Croatia are simply better on the ball.

England will experience that again tomorrow.

Why then does Capello feel that his team will do better in the home stadium of the team that knocked them out the hunt for a spot in Euro 2008?

Capello is banking on two key factors: his team, and the fact that Croatia lost to Turkey on penalties in the Euro's.

A Team Effort

The team have been together for the last ten day. This is probably the longest stretch of time they have spent together, outside of the World Cup, in the last five years.

Capello feels that this will raise the spirits of the team and help them achieve victory.

This is an important point to look at from a teams point of view. They have trained with each other consistently for the last week and a half, and they had a game together. The fact that they have another match so close is key.

Instead of having a month between games and maybe having two or three training sessions prior to the match, they have had time to interact and grow a stronger sense of the team as a whole.

This time spent together may be their saving grace against Croatia, because I can almost guarantee that Cappello's other point will mean nothing come match time.

Well, We Lost On Penalties. Let's Go Cry For Six Months.

I am a goalkeeper by nature. You can ask Michael Shibley, a good buddy of mine who writes on here, and he will tell you that nothing pissed me off more than having to face penalty shots from him and our friend Josh.

Penalty shootouts are the bane of any goalkeeper's existance, and no matter how good you may be, there is always a striker that will get you to go left and then put the thing in the top right corner.

So, Croatia lost on penalties. Chelsea lost in the semifinals of the Champions League in 2007, only to come back this last year and make it to the finals (where they lost on penalties, but that's besides the point).

Penalty shoot outs rock teams a bit. Usually they hit the goalies the hardest and putting your faith in the goalie's mentality is a horrible move.

Has Capello ever sat down and talked to a goalie? They're crazy. They are crazy enough to get up the next day and get right back in the net and work on PK's just to get better.

Can England Crush Croatia?

I hate to say it, but I think Capello's logic is going to leave him crying on the plane back to Heathrow. While England may be playing very fluid football right now, it is unlikely that they will play better than Croatia.

Do I think England will qualify? Sure.

Will they get far? Not likely if they continue to listen to the coach that decided he wanted to be a psychiatrist as well.