The Group Six leaders can virtually assure qualification for South Africa 2010 with wins in Almaty tomorrow and Wembley next Wednesday and will be expected to do so against the two sides at the bottom of the group.

For some of the squad it will be the first competitive action since the end of the Barclays Premier League season two weeks ago, but there is a job to do and Capello will not tolerate excuses.

"At the end of the season, the players are not fresh like when we started," Capello said.

"But we have to play two very important games against Kazakhstan and Andorra.

"The problems of players, if they are tired or not, is no excuse. We have to play, we have to win and everyone who plays has to be very strong. There will be no excuses that we are tired or wanting a holiday."

Although England are runaway leaders in the group the Italian is taking nothing for granted, but he believes his team has big things ahead of them once qualification is sealed.

"First we have to get through to South Africa," he said. "But I think we will be a very good team if we achieve that.

"We are very strong and we can play against all the best teams of the best countries in the world.

"I am very happy with these players, with this group and I have big confidence in the future."

Croatia and Ukraine, who are fighting it out for second place at present, meet in a crucial fixture in Zagreb tomorrow and Ukraine coach Oleksiy Mykhailychenko - whose team then host Kazakhstan on Wednesday - has taken a similar stance to Capello.

"I understand that every footballer came to the team after a tough season," Mykhailychenko said.

"But we have told the players that while they have finished the domestic season, it is still ongoing for the national team.

"The footballers agree that they must not even think about weariness."

Croatia's assistant coach Nikola Jurcevic expects a tight encounter, with the Ukrainians set to adopt a similar style to their neighbours Russia, who the Croatians held to a goalless draw during qualifying for Euro 2008.

"We expect a similar kind of game we played against Russia in Zagreb," Jurcevic said.

"Then it ended with no goals, but we controlled the match and dominated. I am convinced that it will be so in this case.

"The Ukrainians certainly will not deviate from their tactics."

Tomorrow's other game sees Belarus, who are attempting to keep in touch with the top three, take on rock-bottom Andorra in Grodno.

Belarus defender Igor Shitov has said that the opposition will be sterner than many might realise.

"Do not underestimate this team, Andorran players often act aggressively and harshly," he said.