LONDON (AP) -Wayne Rooney believes that England coach Fabio Capello has the same winning mentality as Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, the most successful coach in English football history.
The United striker scored twice in England's 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan to follow three goals in three games for his club. He hopes to continue that streak against Belarus in a World Cup qualifying game Wednesday.
Rooney can help make it four wins in four games and a five-point advantage for England, which failed to reach Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren. Rooney says that Capello, who led AC Milan, AS Roma, Juventus and Real Madrid to championships and cup titles, has given the players a new winning attitude.
"I think the biggest similarity between Fabio Capello and Sir Alex Ferguson is that they are both winners," Rooney said ahead of the game in Minsk.
"I think when you have a manager like that it certainly rubs off on the players and it makes them feel the same. They want to win, not just for the team, but the manager as well. I think under the new coaching staff with England, it has changed a lot."
From the start, Capello told England stars who were considered automatic choices under Sven-Goran Eriksson and McClaren that no one was guaranteed a place in his lineup. On Monday, Steven Gerrard, who is Liverpool's most influential player, acknowledged he feared for his starting England place.
Ferguson has instilled a similar attitude at United, resulting in 22 major titles - with probably more to come.
While Capello may well make changes to his midfield on Wednesday, Rooney should again partner Emile Heskey in the England attack. The United striker knows that three points is a must, no matter how the team plays.
"We have to make sure we get the full six points from these two games otherwise the result in Croatia will have been for nothing," Rooney said in a reference to England's impressive 4-1 victory in Zagreb last month in another Group 6 game.
"We've done well, we've won our last three games and we are starting to score more goals now. I'm enjoying my football at the minute and hopefully I can keep doing well for club and country."
England goes into the game with a two-point lead over Ukraine, which doesn't play on Wednesday. Third-place Croatia, which is five points behind, will be confident of beating last place Andorra at home.
A bonus for England could be that Belarus, which lies fourth in the group and six points behind England, may well be without its top player, FC Barcelona midfielder Alexander Hleb, who has a foot injury.
Rooney believes that England should be confident of winning whether or not the former Arsenal player is in the Belarus lineup.
"We're starting to play well and give good performances as well as getting results," Rooney said. "I don't want to get carried away and say, `We will win something' but we are certainly working towards that and getting better each game.
"Hopefully, we can qualify and then we'll take it from there. Everyone dreams about winning trophies and to get a trophy with England would be unbelievable. I'm sure it's not just myself but all the other players who dream of winning trophies for England. If we could do that, it would be unbelievable."
