England manager Fabio Capello said Monday he plans to name his permanent skipper in August.

The Italian is expected to reveal his first choice captain before England face the Czech Republic in a friendly on 20 August. So far Capello has tried out Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, David Beckham and Gareth Barry and has not yet reached his final decision.

"I will decide in the last week before we play Czech Republic - I have not decided yet," he told BBC Sport.

Capello is preparing for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifiers which begin in September by following the progress of group opponents Croatia at UEF EURO 2008, the country that denied England qualification.

He was in Vienna to see them beat co-hosts Austria and said: "Croatia are a very strong team because they play together a lot.

"I have to know everything about them, all their secrets. I am watching their style, the set-pieces and also the movement of the team when they have the ball and when they don't," he added.

"We have to beat Croatia. They are a good team with good organisation and they are a strong group. In the last half an hour against Austria their spirit was very important.

"It will not be an easy game, but we have to win against Croatia."

Capello believes that England are now beginning to gel as a team. "I now know a lot of players better and they also know me better," said the 53-year-old.

"When I started the first game against Switzerland it was not easy because I saw a lot of problems; there was no confidence and they did not play like they do for their clubs and that was very strange for me," he went on.

"Now, I am very happy because step-by-step we are moving along and we play better in every game."

Capello said he was baffled by England's previous poor performances. "I do not understand why," he said. "This is a big problem and it is very interesting to understand why - I think it is not having confidence.

"But the player's technical ability surprised me because always when I played against English teams they ran around, were very strong, and good in the air but they were good technically.

"I saw a lot of players who are very good technically. But I don't understand why, when players play for the national team, they don't play like they do for their team.

"It's possible that the England shirt is too important and they don't play with the same confidence."