Capello: Contenders for captaincy 'down to two'.

Byline: BY JOHN CURTIS Daily Post Correspondent

FABIO CAPELLO has narrowed the battle for the England captaincy down to two candidates and insisted whoever receives the armband "must be a leader on the pitch".

Capello has allowed Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and David Beckham to skipper England during his four matches in charge.

Now he will spend the summer mulling over who will lead out the side when the 2010 World Cup qualifiers get under way in early September.

Capello said: "The captain must be a leader and he must lead on the pitch and set an example on the pitch. When he speaks, the players have to listen to him.

"I haven't decided who (will be captain) but I have two ideas. It is down to two. That is all I am saying."

On that basis some are arguing that Terry is firmly back in contention to recapture the role he was handed by Steve McClaren when he replaced Sven-Goran Eriksson as head coach.

No-one can doubt his leadership skills and ability to gee up players.

Capello was impressed by the way the Chelsea captain bounced back from his Champions League final penalty shoot-out agony with his performance against the United States five days ago.

Capello heads off to watch the Euro 2008 finals this weekend admitting he has been surprised by the quality in the England squad.

He said: "The quality of the England players is higher than I expected. Since I started the job, after four games and training with the players, I can see the quality is very high.

"The technical quality is good. It gives me great encouragement.

But then it is impossible to arrive at the final of the Champions League with eight or nine English players if they are not of high quality.

"There have been positives from the last six months - the good attitude, good concentration, good humility on the pitch during the games. This is very important."

Capello also warned his team not to focus solely on their two clashes with main group rivals Croatia during the World Cup qualifiers.

It was two dropped points against Macedonia at Old Trafford which proved crucial in the Euro 2008 campaign and they were also held to a goalless first half by Andorra - their opponents in the first qualifier.

Capello said: "Against Croatia will be very important - but we have to perform not only against Croatia. Everyone asks me about 'Croatia, Croatia, Croatia' but we have to win the other games also."

Capello is confident England will be firing on all cylinders when they play the East Europeans in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Zagreb in early September.

The England head coach has been happy with the progress made in the four friendly internationals since he replaced McClaren nearly six months ago.

And Capello has viewed the 10-day get-together, spanning the games with USA and Trinidad and Tobago, as crucial in terms of getting to know his players.

But he is aware England will have to be tuned in and ready for the battle to reach the 2010 finals in South Africa when they reconvene for the friendly with Czech Republic at Wembley in August, a month before the qualifiers start.

He said: "When we start the new season, we will have only one month (before the Croatia game) which is not a lot of time. The first game is against the Czech Republic which will be very important to us.

"I hope at that moment the players will be in good form and good condition.

"We will then decide the first XI and I hope they will all be fit and firing."

The captain must lead on the pitch and set an example

FABIO CAPELLO

CAPTION(S):

England's John Terry passes the captain's armband to another strong contender in Liverpool's Steven Gerrard during the friendly against Brazil last summer