Fabio Capello vowed to deliver his England players to next year's European Championship finals in perfect shape after admitting he made a big mistake in his World Cup preparations.

Ahead of last summer's tournament in South Africa, the England manager took his players to a high-altitude boot camp in Austria, making them train twice a day.

Having a ball: England manager Fabio Capello looked to be having fun as he took the squad through their paces

He now realises what they actually needed was a break after a gruelling domestic season. If successful in guiding the national team to Euro 2012, he will give them a 10-day break between the end of the English season and proper training for the tournament. Players could spend the time recharging their batteries on the beach rather than on the training pitch.

'Before the World Cup I was sure the team would play better than we saw in South Africa,' he said as he prepared his team for this afternoon's qualifier against Switzerland at Wembley. 'It surprised me what happened, the physical situation that we had at the World Cup. They were really, really tired. That was a surprise.

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