England

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• Manager:Fabio Capello

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Capello: England were fantastic

08 Sep 2010 - 07:10:36

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Fabio Capello described England's first-half performance in their 3-1 Euro 2012 qualifying victory over Switzerland as "fantastic".

Wayne Rooney, Adam Johnson and Darren Bent were on target in Basel as England built on their impressive 4-0 victory against Bulgaria on Friday to top the Group G table after the first round of fixtures.

Rooney opened the scoring after ten minutes, with the other goals coming after Swiss defender Stefan Lichtsteiner was sent off midway through the second half.

"I think in the first half we played fantastic football and I was really happy," said Capello. "It was important to win and we played really, really well.

"In the second half we played probably too slow, but after the second goal when it was ten players versus 11 it was too easy."

Capello was also fulsome in his praise of Rooney as he produced another impressive performance despite finding himself in the media spotlight following newspaper revelations about his private life.

"Rooney's goal was important for him and for us," added Capello.

"His movement was good, he pressed the number eight and number six, who were important players.

"I am really happy for Rooney's performance. I think he played well, he was always at the centre of the play, the movement.

"He is really an important player, the pressure was strong on him but he played well."