BACK IN BUSINESS ... England captain John Terry barks out his orders

JOHN TERRY insists he will lead England into battle at Euro 2012.

And the uncompromising defender claims the team can now compete with the best in the world following another morale-boosting win.

The 1-0 victory over Sweden followed Saturday's surprise defeat of world champions Spain and brings the curtain down on an unbeaten year for Fabio Capello's team.

Terry was skipper for the 34th time at Wembley last night and is determined to keep his position despite off-field problems as he fights allegations of racism.

The Chelsea star insisted: "I would never step down.

"I always dreamed of this since I was a boy of four or five when I used to watch England games.

"It is something I have always dreamed of being and I have worked very hard to get here.

"I am very confident being England captain and I am very proud to be also.

"The England fans have always been great with me and the rest of the players. They are always right behind us and are very passionate, as are all the players.

"They expect the very best, we have a great set of fans and some great performances at the moment.

"I'm pleased we got two wins out of two games, especially after the Spain game.

"I've seen in the past we've had the highs and then dropped back a little bit.

"If we can continue this momentum for the next six months, hopefully things will be a lot better.

"We have always believed and we have shown over the last couple of games that we can compete with the very best — Spain, obviously being the best in the world."

Sweden centre-half Daniel Majstorovic's 22nd-minute own goal from a Gareth Barry header was England's 2,000th goal and, surprisingly, 'own goals' now lie fourth in the all-time scoring list for the national team with 43 — behind Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and Jimmy Greaves.

It was also the first win over Sweden since 1968.

But now is no time for historical landmarks with the next big tournament just seven months away.

Terry added: "It's been far too long since we beat Sweden. But over the two games I thought we were excellent.

"We kept two clean sheets and there were some promising performances from the younger players.

"Over the last 10 days it has been great. Kyle Walker did excellently, young Jack Rodwell also did well. I was pleased for Daniel Sturridge as well.

"The manager made a lot of changes and it was important the players who came in adapted really quickly, which they did."

Sweden chief Erik Hamren reckons England have a promising batch of youngsters emerging at the right time.

The two teams could meet again in next summer's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

Tottenham's blossoming right-back Kyle Walker won the Man of the Match award on his debut.

Hamren said: "We had five players on the pitch from the Under-21s. England, maybe the same. They are good.

"They are starting to be big players in their clubs and will develop at international level."