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By Mike Collett
LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - England coach Fabio Capello, who said last week his side were already good enough to challenge European champions Spain, will expect a victory over Euro 2008 also-rans the Czech Republic in a friendly on Wednesday.
England, who failed to qualify for this year's European Championship under former coach Steve McClaren, start their first full season under the Italian.
Capello takes charge for the fifth time in the final warm-up at Wembley before his team start their 2010 World Cup qualifiers in Andorra on Sept. 6 and Croatia four days later.
Last week, he told reporters that although England did not reach the Euro 2008 tournament in Austria and Switzerland in June, he could see an improvement in the side already.
"The Czech game is important because I hope to get the answers from the players I expect," Capello said, adding that although Spain were champions, England could challenge them too.
"I think we could win against Spain," he said. "Why not?"
He has named a strong squad to face the Czechs who are playing their first match under new coach Petr Rada, successor to long-time boss Karel Brueckner who resigned after the Czechs's group stage exit at Euro 2008.
Capello did not call up any new players in his initial 23-man squad on Saturday, although he will now have to do without Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick who injured an ankle playing against Newcastle United on Sunday.
He has recalled Emile Heskey after the Wigan Athletic striker's recovery from injury, although the main interest will be the announcement of a permanent captain.
Capello has rotated the job among John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham in his four friendlies so far.
NO KOLLER
The Czechs will be without their all-time leading scorer Jan Koller following his international retirement and Libor Sionko (leg injury), one of their top performers at the Euros.
Milan Baros, who has 66 caps and has played for Aston Villa, Liverpool and Portsmouth in England, should lead the attack alongside the uncapped Michal Papadopoulos.
"Papadopoulos is a player of similar stature to Jan Koller and that is why I decided to call him up," sports website www.sport.cz quoted Rada as saying.
Vaclav Sverkos, who made an impression at Euro 2008 by scoring the first goal of the tournament when the Czechs beat Switzerland 1-0 in Basel, should also be in the side.
Familiar defenders Zdenek Grygera, Tomas Ujfalusi and Marek Jankulovski will be available, but Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky, who missed the Euros because of injury, is still sidelined.
It will be the first time the Czechs have been to Wembley since 1990 when an England side inspired by an outstanding performance from Paul Gascoigne beat Czechoslovakia 4-2 shortly before the World Cup finals in Italy.
