"FABIO Capello has got England playing with a renewed confidence we have not seen from the team for quite some time. After winning the two 2010 World Cup qualifying matches this past week England have now won four out of four matches to sit very comfortably at the top of their group. In fact it is England's best start to a World Cup campaign ever. The players seem more relaxed and comfortable in their roles ¿ especially striker Wayne Rooney who has scored five goals in the last three internationals ¿ that is a great return rate.

England beat Kazakhstan 5-1 last Saturday and Belarus 3-1 on Wednesday and while those two teams are not the best in the world you still have to win them.

Also Capello has given chances to some players that I don't believe would have got a real look-in with another coach right now ¿ players like Heskey and Barry. Although Heskey didn't score I like him because he is a big guy with good movement and can let in others to score. One of those persons is Rooney who seems to be back to his old self and it is good to see the Manchester United striker on form and playing with such confidence.

Spain are also playing well and like England have won all of their four matches so far. But that is not really that surprising since they are the European champions. Scotland drew with Norway 0-0 last weekend and should have won the game. But they are second in the group so are right in there.

In our region Mexico, despite being top of their group, had a bit of a hiccup this week when they lost to Jamaica last weekend and only drew Canada on Wednesday. But I still see them making it to South Africa in 2010 and hopefully Jamaica will as well.

Portugal are not quite firing on all cylinders as they failed to score over two games ¿ both scoreless draws against Sweden and Albania but having said that they are missing some key players as well. But you do expect a side like Portugal to put a goal or two into the back of the net.

I thought Germany were a tad lucky to get three points out of Wales this week with that 1-0 victory as Wales played very well and were unlucky not to get something out of the game. But Wales are still in it tied with Russia on points while not surprisingly Germany head the group.

Last week I said that it was time Italy started using some their young players and they have which is great to see. They have a lot of young talent in Italy and their manager Marcello Lippi is integrating the younger players ¿ players like midfielder Alberto Aquilani who scored his first two international goals in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Montenegro. Andrea Dossena also did well to fill in for Fabio Grosso at left back and forward Pepe started for the second straight match on the right wing. In the scoreless draw last Saturday against Bulgaria I was very happy to see the manager bring on young Giuseppe Rossi for his Italy debut. He is a skilful player and we will be seeing a lot of him in the future.

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BIG MATCH

With the leagues all back in action this weekend and the Champions League also returning during the week there are good matches to watch out for. And none more so than River Plate hosting archrivals Boca Juniors on Sunday. For those who do not watch the South American football, I say they are really missing something special ¿ especially this match which is one of the biggest grudge matches in world football. Take the time out and watch it on Sunday. It starts at 4 p.m. and will be on FSC as well as some Spanish stations.

Manchester United also play Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday and that will be a cracker. Enjoy!