England's Joe Cole

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP):

England's players confessed to a lack of confidence when they took on football's number 186-ranked nation in their opening World Cup qualifier at the weekend, so one can only imagine what they're feeling as they prepare to take on Croatia on Wednesday.

England can afford to lose to fifth-ranked Croatia in Zagreb and still win the qualifying group to clinch an automatic berth at the 2010 tournament in South Africa, but the failure to rack up a hatful of goals against Andorra means some of that margin for error is gone.

And having missed out on a place at this year's European Championship after losing home and away to Croatia in qualifying, England's players again face the perplexing conundrum of how to transform their frequently impressive Premier League and Champions League form to the international stage.

They have failed to do so for much of England's recent history, most spectacularly when losing 2-0 in Zagreb and then 3-2 to the same opponent at Wembley - a result that ended Steve McClaren's tenure as manager and led to an idle summer.

Different challenge

"We have to forget about what has gone on in the past," said David Beckham, who is hoping to return to the line-up after being dropped against Andorra. "This is the present and we have to work towards what we want to achieve in this group and it is about getting a good performance and a good result. We know it is going to be a very tough game and a different challenge from playing Andorra."

England will certainly need to show more guile if they are to break down a much tougher defence than the Andorra one that still held out until the second half on Saturday. England were jeered because of their poor first-half performance and needed two goals from half-time substitute Joe Cole to clinch three points.

Cole is likely to replace Stewart Downing on the left of midfield, while coach Fabio Capello has to weigh up whether Beckham's accurate free kicks and corners are more valuable on the right of the team than the speed and directness of Theo Walcott.

Walcott was one of the few players to look good against Andorra, with his teammates citing frustration at a deep-lying defence.

"I think we have got unfinished business with Croatia," England captain John Terry said. "We know it's going to be tough again but, hopefully, they will come at us a bit more than Andorra did. You just try and rise to the challenge whenever you go back to a ground where you have bad memories. We know it's difficult and we know they have not been beaten there for a long time."

Confident team

Croatia have not lost at home since 1994 and are confident after an opening 3-0 victory over Kazakhstan on Saturday. So confident, in fact, that Croatia coach Slaven Bilic did not even send a scout to watch England beat Andorra.

"It wasn't necessary," Bilic said. "We've seen them enough times."

Bilic added that he was satisfied with the team's "dominance, movability, discipline, but we'll be having a completely different match on Wednesday".