Fabio Capello has brushed aside criticism from Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson about the merits of England playing Brazil in Qatar next month.

The friendly international will take place in Doha on November 14, to Ferguson's dismay.

But Capello said:"I don't understand what this is all about.

"Most other countries are playing two games but we are only playing one match and returning the players on Sunday, four days earlier than the other countries.

"We did this out of respect to the players and their clubs at such a busy time in the fixture calendar."

Ferguson had earlier voiced his displeasure at the scheduling of friendlies in general, but was particularly unhappy that his England stars would be travelling 6,500 miles to play in next month's game.

He had said:"You want the players to play in the important international games, it's important to them and I want them to play. It's the friendly matches that are the problem.

"It's a coach's nightmare, especially if you're in the middle of a European campaign and going for cups and titles.

"You have all these fixtures and you have the intrusion of a friendly game in some unknown country, so that is a definite thorn in everyone's flesh.

"All international managers have their jobs to do and we support that, particularly when it comes to the issues of competitive games, ie the European Championships or the World Cup.

"It's very important that these players play for their countries.

"But friendly games are a different matter. I don't think that anyone agrees with them if you're a football coach, a league coach, whereas international managers have a situation that they find themselves in.

"I think that some of them actually could do without the friendly games themselves, but the FAs from every country warn them that sometimes it's a nice day for them, a nice trip for them, a sunny day, and in some cases it creates good revenue for them. So you can understand it."

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