Still, I think we would settle for humdrum 2-1 wins all the way to the World Cup final in 2010.

 If there was anything revolutionary in the air, it was the disciplined regime initiated by the much-travelled Italian, which may have had a knock-on effect on the fans, too.

 

No one can reasonably complain if he opts to call his captain 'Gerrard' instead of 'Stevie G', orders the players to keep to rigid meal times like friars in a monastery, and, at long last, has sent the WAGs, agents and assorted hangers-on packing from the team hotel.

 

The much-trumpeted minute's silence to commemorate the 1958 Munich air disaster was barely 30 seconds, and was interrupted by two or three morons, but only two or three, which amid 86,857 at Wembley is not a bad ratio.

 

For the first time in my Wembley memory, satta king I heard nobody in my section boo the visitors' national anthem. I also failed to spot any flags emblazoned vwith the names of banned Ulster terror groups, and heard no bone-headed renditions of 'No Surrender to the IRA'.

 

Looking around the gleaming new arena with its magnificent architecture, I wondered if at long last the boorishness that has dogged England’s fanbase for years was finally withering away in the face of a new era.

 

What surprised me most, though, was glancing to my left and finding my eyes fixed upon the familiar form of one of the world's greatest coaches, looking unfamiliar in an England tracksuit, but brooding over his troops with his reknowned intensity.

 

Sterner tests will come, beginning with the trip to Zagreb to face Croatia on the 10th of September for a World Cup qualifier.

 

So far, so good: Capello has a 100% record. And for a non-English speaker picking up a team strangled by player egoes, and a nation demoralized by their failure to perform, he has showed an encouraging desire to do things his own way.

 

Assessments will change when the meaningful games arrive in the autumn, but for now, Fabio's road looks the right one for England.

 

Scoring –

ENG – Jenas 40'

SWI – Derdiyok – 58'

ENG – Wright-Phillips 62'

 

Line-ups -

 

England: James, Brown, Ferdinand, Upson, Ashley Cole (Bridge 73'), Bentley, Jenas (Wright-Phillips 57'), Gerrard, Barry (Hargreaves 73'), Joe Cole (Crouch 57'), Rooney (Young 87').

 

Switzerland: Benaglio, Lichtsteiner (Behrami 46'), Senderos (Grichting 55'), Eggiman, Spycher, Inler, Gelson (Huggel 84'), Barnetta, Yakin (Margairaz 63'), Gygax (Vonlanthen 46'), Nkufo (Derdiyok 46').