Rio Ferdinand believes it is now time for England to deliver at the new Wembley when they host the games that will shape their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
Steve McClaren’s men face Israel and Russia next month at the revamped national stadium as they look to climb Group E, and Ferdinand saw encouragement despite the 2-1 friendly defeat to Germany on Wednesday.
It meant England have yet to win at the refurbished stadium after drawing with Brazil in June, and Ferdinand is confident they will be ready when the crucial games are played on September 8 and 12.
Their only game away from Wembley for the rest of the campaign comes against Russia in October.
"No game is bigger than the other in the next few games," said the Manchester United centre-back. "Each game is a massive - if we win them we qualify if we don’t we’re out. That tells you it all.
"We can create chances and if we turn them into goals we’ll be all right. Fingers crossed we can do that. Four out of five are at home and you can’t ask for much more."
Visiting countries have been tipped to raise their game at the impressive 90,000 stadium but Ferdinand believes England can cope.
"We’ve played before at Old Trafford which is a great stadium," he said. "Teams come to Old Trafford and want to do well.
"Teams play England and always want to up the ante, to put themselves in the spotlight and some players are playing for moves - what better team to play against than England?"
Another positive aspect of England’s performance was Micah Richards in defence, with Ferdinand adding to the recent praise for the Manchester City youngster.
"He’s got all the attributes to be a top player," Ferdinand said. "Quick, strong and aggressive at the right times - he’s doing it for Manchester City and I’m sure he’ll do it for England.
"Competition is good. If we’ve got a team with no competition it means we’ve got a weak squad and a weak pool of players to pick from. It’s a good thing."
Ferdinand saw improvement from McClaren’s men, despite defeat after Germany turned around Frank Lampard’s opener.
"The consolation we can take is creating chances which we haven’t been doing for a while," he added.
"It was some of the best stuff we’ve played in a while in the first 25-30 minutes but they got goals at good times.
"It was a step forward in the right direction. We still have a couple of steps to take. It was a good game to feel what we have to do in the next game. We’re getting used to the stadium and playing here - now is the time to get a result."
Shaun Wright-Phillips earned the man-of-the-match award after coming on as a second-half substitute, and the Chelsea winger appears to be brimming with confidence after a stretch of games.
"It’s just about confidence, I’ve had a lot of people backing me, especially the boys at Chelsea and my family," he said. Wright-Phillips also feels a win at Wembley is around the corner.
He added: "Everyone will be raring to go. We have to take the positives from the Germany game into the next games, we created enough chances and hopefully we will do that again. If we do I don’t think we will have a problem.
"It’s early in the season and the more games we play at club level the more game sharpness we’ll have."
Nicky Shorey won another cap at left-back and is also confident of a win in the next qualifiers.
"We’re looking forward to the games, we lost this one but we’re geared up for these games coming up," said the Reading defender.
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