IF HIS first year was all about getting back to basics, Fabio Capello's second will be spent rebuilding England's tattered reputation.

European football fans still laugh at the 'superpower' nation that couldn't even qualify for Euro08, but they will laugh no longer if Spain are vanquished in Seville tonight.

Don't be too quick to mock, this is an England side far more competent and coherent than we have seen for some time.

Capello inherited an abject and motley collection of footballers, but he has steadily drilled them into a well-organised, disciplined team capable of playing in a variety of formations and no longer reliant on individual performers.

The win against Croatia was achieved without Steven Gerrard. The victory in Belarus without John Terry.

The casual mateyness of the McClaren era has been swept away. The players have rules and standards to adhere to and, if they do qualify for the 2010 World Cup, I very much doubt that their wives and girlfriends will be allowed to tag along this time round.

Bountiful

Not that they'll mind, I hear the shops in South Africa aren't as bountiful as those in continental Europe.

The confidence seeping out of this team is there for all to see, not least because Capello himself has told reporters that he expects to see an England win.

Expects? Against the reigning European champions? Can you imagine him saying that a year ago?

This is a better kind of belief than the foolish hubris of previous years. Before Euro08, the players seemed to think that they only needed to appear on the pitch in order to secure the points. Now they know better.

And there is pace in the team as well. Capello has packed six Aston Villa players for the journey, including Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

The only concern for Capello is the identity of his other striker. Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Jermain Defoe and Theo Walcott are out injured, while Emile Heskey is carrying an injury.

That could mean a starting berth for Carlton Cole, a player who is much better statistically than he is realistically. Cole has flourished under Gianfranco Zola, but still remains incapable of hitting large targets from close ranges.

Approach

It could be that his scatter-gun approach to the game is simply a product of low self-confidence, but it is not without good reason that the West Ham fans have nicknamed him, 'Can't Control'.

Hitman concerns aside, this should be a very intriguing game.

Spain remain one of the finest sides in the world, though they will be missing players. Carles Puyol joins Cesc Fabregas on the sidelines and Fernando Torres is still to fully recover from a series of niggling injuries.

The Spanish play quick, pass-and-move football, but few defences seem as solid as John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.

There is only so much you can read into the result of a friendly, but if England can build on their perfect World Cup qualifying campaign with a win over the European champions, it might just make a few people around the world sit up and take notice.