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When the Italian was appointed last December England were in the doldrums.
Their failure to qualify for Euro 2008 led to the departure of Steve McClaren and the public were widely disenchanted at the attitude and performance of the supposed "world class" players who seemed to give their all only for their clubs.
Now, with Wednesday's 2-1 friendly victory in Germany capping a fizzing start to their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, it is all very different.
"When I started my job I said we have to recover our confidence," Capello said. "The players understand this and we saw it during the game and before that during training.
"The players know what I want from them during games and what they have to do."
It sounds a simple requirement but under McClaren's hapless reign it was seemingly a task too far for the millionaires of the Premier League.
Capello oozes a quiet self-confidence built on a career of achievement at the top level and it seems England's players have responded.
Alongside those results and the headline-grabbling exploits of Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney, Capello has quietly developed England's "B team" and, as was shown to great effect in Berlin, there is now for the first time in a long time, some sort of strength in depth.
Up front Gabriel Agbonlahor grabbed his chance with an pacey debut to give a much-needed option in the case of Rooney's regular injury absences.
