Although it was Capello who allowed Rooney to fill his preferred striking role when he was being shunted out wide for Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson has taken it a step forward.

For the majority of big games this season, Rooney has been used as a lone frontman even though Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen have both been around as potential partners.

As the response has been a stunning 28 goals during a campaign that has already brought the Red Devils glory in the Carling Cup, whilst keeping them in contention for both the Champions League and Premier League, there has been a debate about whether Rooney could do the same job for England.

Such a move would dispense with the need to play Emile Heskey, the England striker who does not score, and allow Steven Gerrard to occupy a more central midfield role.

It seems reasonable enough.

Not to Capello.

"Yes. I have to decide. For me, it's very important the position that Rooney plays this season," he said.

Can you play him on his own?

"No. Never.

"My style is always to play with two forwards, one very close to the other.

"Rooney has been like a single forward at times this season. That is good. But I choose one big forward and one small. I just have to decide who.

"But it won't be Steven Gerrard. He is a midfielder who goes forward."

As Rooney has recovered from the knee injury that he aggravated in Sunday's Carling Cup final, the question of who partners England's player of 2009 is one of only three Capello would not answer about his starting line-up to face the African Nations Cup winners Egypt - goalkeeper and left-back were the others.

Theo Walcott is pencilled in for his first cap since June last year despite a series of less-than-convincing displays for Arsenal following his recovery from a hamstring injury.

"I have monitored him a lot," said Capello.

"Sometimes he played for 20 or 25 minutes, sometimes for half an hour.

"The last game he didn't do too badly. For that reason, he is here because he is one of our very important players."

Clearly that places the winger above Shaun Wright-Phillips in the right-wing pecking order, which is probably not that much of a surprise given the Manchester City man has struggled to win a regular starting spot at Eastlands since Roberto Mancini replaced Mark Hughes.

No parallel can be drawn with Aaron Lennon, who has impressed during his recent international appearances but is now out for another six weeks with a groin injury that is placing a question mark over his chances of making the plane for South Africa.

But if he is looking for a problem area, Capello would surely nominate his defence.

His right-back tomorrow, Wes Brown, watched the Carling Cup final from the substitutes' bench at the weekend, whilst the battle between Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines for the left-back role is essentially between Capello's third and fourth choices given Ashley Cole is injured and Wayne Bridge no longer wants to be considered.

In the centre, captain-to-be Rio Ferdinand misses his ninth international out of the last 13, whilst the old skipper John Terry has well documented troubles which, although Capello rejects it, seem to be affecting his form.

"I am not happy now but I hope that, at the end of the season, some players will be fit," said Capello.

Nevertheless, with regards to Ferdinand, the ongoing worries about the 31-year-old's back were sufficient to warrant a trip to Manchester to meet the player and his manager, who ruled him out of international duty last week.

"I met Rio and spoke with Sir Alex and I know exactly what happened," said Capello.

"I also spoke with (chief executive) David Gill at Wembley, who told me it is not the same problem.

"I don't know. I just hope he will be fit in a short time because he needs to play.

"You can only find good form when you play games."

There are fears of a fans' backlash against Terry at Wembley tomorrow, but Capello has joined with striker Wayne Rooney in urging Three Lions supporters not to give the Chelsea skipper a hard time.

"I think the fans have to support every moment," he said.

"You have to understand that privately some players were not so good, but on the pitch it is different.

"We wear the England shirt and it is really important they help us every moment.

"I hope that tomorrow the crowd help us and do not boo him."

On Terry's mental state ahead of the game, Capello added: "He is training very well.

"He will be the same player in the dressing room. I told him you have to do the same things as a captain."

Asked whether he could potentially perform a u-turn over the decision to strip Terry of the captaincy, the Italian replied: "I think no. I think the next captain will be Rio. For tomorrow, the captain will be Steven Gerrard."

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Capello expects an "interesting" match tomorrow.

"We hope to play very well and we invite the fans to help us," he said.

"It's not easy to win the African Nations Cup three times if you are not a good team. I watched Egypt's games and it is a really, really good team. They are dangerous, they are really well organised on the pitch who know what to do in every moment.

"I think it will be a really interesting test for us."

Capello was pleased with his players' performance in training today after speaking to them following recent off-field issues.

"I was really happy with the players, they understood exactly what I wanted," he said. "The most important thing is the leaders, during training on the pitch, were there in every moment today."

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Capello emphasised his belief that players' actions on the field are of paramount importance.

"The important thing is how the players perform on the pitch and not what happens outside," he said, before defending Terry's performances against Inter Milan last week and Manchester City on Saturday.

"I saw the two games he played in Milan and at home to Manchester City. He played his normal game but always, when the player's team loses, the journalists try to find something about the most important player. I think he played very well in the two games."

Capello also spoke in support of defender Ryan Shawcross after the Stoke player's dismissal for the tackle which resulted in Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey's horrific leg break.

"I selected him before the game, which I watched on television," said the Italian. "I think the tackle was really hard, I'm upset for the Arsenal players, it was a really strong tackle but not to (intentionally) break the leg of the other player.

"I spoke twice to him, he's young and it's his first time with us. It's a little bit different for him and I'm happy he's here. I think to stay with us will help him to forget what happened."

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Capello refused to be drawn on Bridge's decision not to shake hands with Terry prior to City's 4-2 win over Chelsea on Saturday, but reiterated the door to the national team remains open for the left-back.

"It is a private problem, not my problem," said Capello.

"The door is always open and if Wayne Bridge wants to come back, the door is always open. Not only for him - for all the players. We are monitoring all the players."

The England boss also defended the omission of Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole from his squad, saying: "I saw a lot of the games Joe played after injury. He played so-so.

"The last game he played very well. He needs to play more games like that and if he does he will be here, probably."

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Gerrard has urged everyone to "move on" from the controversy surrounding Terry and Bridge and focus on England's bid to win the World Cup.

And he denied team spirit has been fractured following the allegations.

"Nothing has changed, the team spirit and togetherness has been fantastic over the last couple of days," said the Liverpool midfielder.

"The manager did reiterate our responsibilities both on and of the pitch yesterday but he has done that from day one.

"Training went well this morning, the lads are in good spirits and hopefully we can perform well.

"The message is to move on, forget about it and concentrate on football.

"A lot has been said about players' private lives. I think it's time for everyone to move on and get behind the team. It's important we are all as one moving forward."

Gerrard was excited at the prospect of wearing the armband at Wembley, adding: "Being England captain is always a big responsibility.

"I am delighted that I will be leading the boys out."