England's Terry can't wait to qualify for World Cup

04 September 2009 16:13
England are looking forward to the prospect of sealing a place in the 2010 World Cup when they face Croatia next week, captain John Terry said Friday.[LNB] "It would be huge for us to qualify Wednesday. Holland are the only other (European) team to qualify so far. The quicker we do it the better," Terry told reporters.[LNB] "We would give ourselves a lot of time with friendlies and qualifying games for the manager (Fabio Capello) to try different formations, different players before the World Cup.[LNB] "If we can get there we can really relax and enjoy our football going into the World Cup."[LNB] Terry, speaking before Saturday's friendly with Slovenia, said the players wanted to qualify as soon as possible and would fine-tune their preparations in the warm-up game at Wembley.[LNB] "It's difficult not to think about (the Croatia game on) Wednesday but the manager has emphasised the game Saturday to get the best out of Wednesday," he said.[LNB] England lost 3-2 to Croatia on a rainy night at Wembley in November 2007 to miss out on a place in Euro 2008 but won 4-1 in Zagreb a year ago, one of their seven successive World Cup qualifying victories in Group Six.[LNB] If they make it eight out of eight Wednesday, they will be sure of their place in the finals.[LNB] SUPERB START[LNB] "It was a disappointing night the last time they (Croatia) were here and that is in the back of our minds. But we don't go in with a revenge mentality," said Terry.[LNB] "It's a chance to put things right where we left off last season."[LNB] Terry also praised the form of Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe who has made a superb start to the season scoring four times for his club and twice for England so far.[LNB] "He is probably pushing to be the No.1 or No.2 striker at the moment," said Terry.[LNB] "I hope he carries on scoring goals for England, not for Tottenham," he joked.[LNB] Capello said all his players were fit and trained Friday, apart from Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster who had returned to the north-west where his partner was due to give birth.[LNB] "Good luck. He will return in the evening and will be ready for the game," Capello said.[LNB] "We haven't spoken about Croatia, we had a meeting on Thursday but we spoke about the game against Holland and the mistakes (in last month's 2-2 friendly draw). On the (Friday) evening before the game we will speak about Slovenia."[LNB] (Editing by Ken Ferris)

Source: Eurosport