After England's narrow victory over a plucky Ukraine side, coach Fabio Capello has paid tribute to the Three Lions.

England are on course for the 2010 World Cup after they maintained their 100% record in World Cup 2010 qualifying.

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Talking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Capello said: "I'm happy because we won the game - it was very important because we knew Ukraine would be a very strong team."

"They've just started their league and are fresh, while we are at the end of our season. This is a big difference.

"The players played very well and without fear."

"We played the first half very well, the second a little less," said Capello, whose only defeats as England manager came in friendlies against France and Spain.

"In midfield we lost a lot of balls and the movement was not as we had prepared.

"We played slowly and missed a lot of easy and important passes. Ukraine were fresh so we needed to play more quickly and this is impossible with us at the end of our season. The fans were very good, noisy when they needed to be, and they helped us."

Capello added: "It will be very long until the Kazakhstan game and I hope when we start training for the next two games the players will be in a better physically condition then they are now."