New era begins as Capello's England face Swiss in friendly

A new era in English soccer begins today when Italian Fabio Capello takes charge of the national side for the first time in a friendly against Switzerland at Wembley Stadium.

The match is a warm-up for the Euro 2008 co-hosts who have struggled to impress for months but will also be a significant for the England players, eager to make a good impression on the coach.

Capello of course, is focusing on the World Cup qualifiers later this year after England failed to make the Euro 2008 finals.

After naming a 30-man squad last week which was then trimmed to 23, the players trained under Capello for the first time on Monday with none of them certain of a place in the starting line-up.

Capello has already shown the tough side of his character by omitting former skipper David Beckham from the squad against the Swiss, who have beaten England just once in 16 matches in the last 60 years and never on English soil.

Capello named Steven Gerrard as captain in the absence of the injured John Terry. But the Italian will not name a permanent skipper until the World Cup qualifiers begin in September with matches against Andorra and Croatia.

A minute's silence will be held before kick-off tonight as a mark of respect to the Manchester United players killed in the Munich air crash exactly 50 years ago today.