England players who skip friendlies at the end of the season could damage their international careers, coach Fabio Capello said.

England plays the United States at Wembley on May 28 and travels to the Caribbean to face Trinidad & Tobago on June 1 in friendlies before it begins its 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign in September.

"If a player doesn't love to play for England then perhaps he should stay at home," British newspapers quoted Capello as saying during a visit to the African nation Lesotho where he is traveling with an FA delegation.

"Players must love the England shirt and that is all there is to it.

"If someone doesn't want to come and play for England, it means they obviously don't love the shirt enough. They must prefer to go on holiday."

Capello, who took charge in December and has yet to name a full-time captain, said 22-year-old striker Wayne Rooney had the makings of a future skipper although he needed to improve his scoring rate.

"Wayne Rooney is very young but I believe in the future he could be captain of England one day," the Italian said.

"He's a leader. He sets a good example on the pitch. He is very young so we need to give him a bit more time to get some more experience and mature.

"There is one thing he has got to improve and will improve. In every game he has a lot of scoring chances and he doesn't take them, or nowhere near as many of them as he should. I am fairly sure he will in the future.

"What he needs to do is be more relaxed in front of goal and not develop an obsession about it."

Meanwhile, in English Premier League news, Manchester City's billionaire owner Thaksin Shinawatra is reportedly unhappy with the club's recent form and will decide on the fate of coach Sven-Goran Eriksson at the end of the season.

When questioned about British media reports that stated he was set to fire the Swede and replace him with Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Thaksin said, "There are no plans at the moment. We will have to evaluate at the end of the season."

Thaksin bought Manchester City last year after being deposed as Thailand's prime minister in a military coup and hired former England coach Eriksson. However, after a strong start to the season, City has faded in recent months and is eighth in the English Premier League standings with four matches remaining.

"I'm not happy with the performance of the club in the second half of the season," Thaksin said. "We will look at it at the end of the season and assess the club and the people involved."

Thaksin, who insisted he did not know nor had ever met Scolari, said the team would need some changes next season.

"We'll probably have to sell some players and buy some new ones. We need some defenders, midfielders ... midfielders are the key," he said.

(Agencies April 17, 2008)