David James is "100 per cent confident" England will avoid a repeat of their defeat against Croatia in Zagreb two years ago when they tackle Slaven Bilic's side in Wednesday's World Cup qualifier.

England were beaten 2-0 in a game infamous for keeper Paul Robinson's 'air shot', although that mistake masked a woeful performance after the then coach Steve McClaren opted for a 3-5-2 formation.

Defeat left them having to play catch-up for the remainder of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign and a 3-2 loss in the reverse fixture at Wembley in November sealed their fate.

But James, a virtual spectator in England's 2-0 win over Andorra in Barcelona's Olympic Stadium on Saturday, is adamant there will be no repeat heartache when the two teams meet again.

The Portsmouth stopper said: "This result will give us confidence for the Croatian game. You have to take into account we were up against a very defensively-minded side in Andorra.

"We knew it was going to be difficult to break them down. We watched videos of them and it was evident they were going to be putting nine or ten men behind the ball at most opportunities.

"But we got away with a nice 2-0 win, I had nothing to do - which is always good - and we will prepare properly and have confidence going into the Croatia game now."

James hinted that England would be better prepared for what lies ahead in Zagreb than in 2006 and he is a big fan of Fabio Capello's no-nonsense style of management.

Capello said after their opening match in Group Six he had not decided whether Joe Cole, who came on as a second half substitute and scored both goals, would start in Zagreb.

He also said that Cole and Wayne Rooney did not understand his tactics during the second half against Andorra, ranked 186th in the FIFA world rankings.

Capello said: "When we started the second half, Wayne Rooney and Joe played near Emile Heskey.

"But when we went 2-0 up, they both then started to come back into midfield. I was asking them to go forward again because Heskey was all on his own. That is what I was trying to transmit to them, but it was difficult because they were too far away."

Capello gave teenager Theo Walcott his first start but after making a big impact in the opening few minutes, his influence faded as the match wore on.

David Beckham began the match on the bench before coming on in the 80th minute to win his 104th cap and Capello is likely to go for Beckham's experience against Croatia from the start on Wednesday.

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