Bilic has been reported as saying England will be under more pressure than his team because Croatia stopped the English from reaching Euro 2008 two years ago by winning at Wembley.
"Thank you Mr. Bilic," Capello said Tuesday. "Now I don't need to motivate my players after this. It's a fantastic assist."
England will look to complete its impressive charge to the 2010 World Cup with an eighth straight qualifying victory and leave Croatia, Ukraine and Belarus to fight over a route to South Africa through the runners up playoffs.
Revived under Capello, England holds a four-point lead over second place Croatia atop Group 6 and has a game in hand over the Croats as they meet Wednesday (available on pay-per-view).
"We have put ourselves in a great position and it's up to us to finish the job," team captain John Terry, said Tuesday. "It's very important for me personally . . . the disappointment of not qualifying (for Euro 2008) still hurts."
Third-place Ukraine, seven points back of England, hosts fourth-place Belarus, which is 12 points back of the leader.
The fact that England is well ahead in the race to the World Cup is a testimony as to how Capello, who won club titles with AC Milan, Juventus, AS Roma and Real Madrid, has turned the ailing team around.
With three games to play, England can start preparing for the World Cup by beating Croatia two years after Steve McClaren's team lost 3-2 at home to Bilic's team and missed out on going to last year's European Championships, won by Spain.
Having beaten Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb a year ago, England has renewed confidence, staying ahead of its rivals in World Cup qualifying virtually since the start and showing the winning mentality Capello has instilled into the players.
"The 4-1 (win) is history," Capello said Tuesday. "It's a very important game we have tomorrow. We have played a lot of very important games and have won seven games. We have improved with every game."
With the exception of injured defender Rio Ferdinand, Capello's team is virtually full strength. Bilic is without attacking midfielder Luka Modric, who was injured playing for Tottenham, and Vedran Corluka, who was sent off in Saturday's 1-0 victory over Belarus and is suspended.
"It's a horrible handicap," said Bilic, whose team will have only one game left after Wednesday's visit to Wembley but can cut England's lead to one point with a victory.
The Croats will have another London-based star in Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva, who made headlines after he was suspended for two Champions League games by UEFA for diving to get a penalty in a qualifying game against Celtic. Although the referee awarded the penalty, UEFA took disciplinary action against the Brazil-born striker.
Arsenal is trying to get the ban overturned on appeal, but Eduardo is likely to get a hot reception from the England fans among the crowd at Wembley on Wednesday.
Ukraine maintained its chances of finishing runner-up with a 5-0 victory over Andorra on Saturday and has a match in hand on Croatia. The only chance Belarus has is winning its last three games and relying on Croatia collecting no more.
Ukraine reported no injuries ahead of the game, and striker Serhiy Nazarenko could return in attack after serving a one-match suspension. Nazarenko is Ukraine's second-highest scorer in qualifying with four goals behind captain Andriy Shevchenko, who has five.
Belarus ran Croatia close in a 1-0 defeat on Saturday and coach Bernd Stange was full of confidence that his team can come out on top in Minsk.
"Belarus battled it out on equal terms with a team (Croatia) with players from the best European clubs," he said. "If we play with the same passion at home against Ukraine, I'm sure we can count on victory."
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