Fabio Capello believes he can lead England to World Cup glory this summer and would be delighted to face Italy in the final.
England go into this year's finals in South Africa as one of the favourites but history is against them and the likes of Italy, Spain and France as no European team has won the World Cup when it has been stage outside Europe.
Capello believes statistics are there to be broken and is hopeful his England side are good enough to do just that and a final against his native Italy would make him very happy.
"I think it's time for a European team to win," Capello said at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Abu Dhabi.
"We will have no problem with jet-lag, the problem will be for South American teams that are really strong like Argentina and Brazil.
"I hope to play against Italy in the final, I will be very happy. One of the targets for all the teams is to play the final. I am sure it will not be easy for me but, at that time, my shirt will be an England shirt.
"We are one of the best teams in the World Cup. We hope to arrive at the semi-finals, minimum, and then, after a lot of years, win the World Cup.
"We have a good team, good players, and at this moment we think we can beat all of the teams because we can play at the same level of the best teams in the world."