CAPELLO'S FAB FOUR; WORLD CUP ENGLAND BOSS EARMARKS STARS FOR 2010.

Byline: MARTIN LIPTON 

FABIO CAPELLO last night opened the road to South Africa to a quartet of World Cup wannabes as he urged them to show they can gatecrash his elite 23.

The England coach has earmarked the Aston Villa trio of Ashley Young, James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor, as well as uncapped Spurs midfielder Tom Huddlestone, as the men who can break into his World Cup thinking.

And after a remarkable season which has seen Glen Johnson and Theo Walcott come from nowhere to become fixtures while the likes of David Bentley and Jonathan Woodgate have disappeared off the radar, Capello has shown he will make room for players who demonstrate they deserve selection.

Capello, who has used 34 players this season, is refusing to count his qualification chickens before they are finally hatched, although a victory over Croatia in September will clinch England's berth at the Finals unless Belarus beat Slaven Bilic's side twice and then Ukraine beforehand.

But the Italian has already admitted he hopes to use the final two qualifiers, in Ukraine and home to Belarus in October, as experimental games, and gave the Villa threesome and Huddlestone warning of their likely inclusion.

Capello said: "I am really happy for Ashley Young. He played the first game with me, against Switzerland, but did not do that well.

"Against Andorra he played with confidence, like he does with Aston Villa.

"The other times, in training and games, he played with fear. He was not the same player.

"I spoke to him and said, 'You have to play the way you do with your team'. It is important to have another player who can play at any moment."

Asked who else was in the frame, Capello added: "Milner was here with us and there is Agbonlahor also. I follow all the young ones because I always speak with Stuart Pearce.

"And I was thinking about choosing Huddlestone for the last squad and was interested in him but he was injured."

The prospect of Huddlestone leaving White Hart Lane for Villa Park this summer is a real one, with Martin O'Neill seeking to replace Gareth Barry, and the midfielder knows that he has the chance to usurp Michael Carrick and give the World Cup squad a distinct claret and blue tinge.

Capello's willingness to cast his net wide is a strength and, perhaps more importantly, signals to his squad - aside from sure-things Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand - that they cannot take their places for granted.

That unprecedented record of seven straight qualifying wins has given Capello's England a swagger that was beyond hope or expectations when the Italian succeeded Steve McClaren.

Capello added: "I can say the biggest change in the group is the confidence.

"The level of the players I cannot change. It is the club managers who can change the training every day and improve them in all ways.

"When you play for the national team the confidence is very important.

Now everybody has confidence and that's the big difference. In every game we have improved.

"Of course there are still some parts we have to improve.

We know. We need time to improve, but we are arriving at a good level now." Nobody embodies that more than Rooney, now full steam ahead and hell-bent on breaking Sir Bobby Charlton's record mark of 49 England goals after scoring 10 in nine outings this season.

Capello agreed: "Yes, Rooney has had a great season and I'm very happy, always happy when he scores.

"I repeat what I said before the game. He has to continue getting in front of goal as he is doing now.

"He is in a fantastic moment. This season he has played very, very well. I hope it will be the same next season.

"We know he can improve. He is young. It's not as if he is at 70 per cent and can add another 10 per cent. If you are at 93 per cent you have to improve by three or four per cent. It will be very important."

It certainly will, as will the knowledge that Capello, whose contract runs through to 2012, will see it out rather than cutting and running next summer.

Quizzed over whether any debate about his future might be a "distraction", the Italian was initially less than unequivocal. "I have to play the World Cup," he said. "I have to focus on the next game and then the one after, not on the future. It is too far away.

"I am happy, but this is an FA de-cision. But it's impossible it will be a distraction. Don't worry. Every time I have been clear in my decisions."

England to win World Cup group by more than 10 points 10/11, by eight-10pts 7/4. FREEPHONE: 0800 444040

CAPTION(S):

IDEAS MAN Capello is willing to try new players THE WORLD CUP WANNABES Capello has an eye on (clockwise from top left) Huddlestone, Agbonlahor, Young and Milner