World Cup Team Profiles: Group C: England

Teams / Ari Last / 18 February 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

They steamed through the qualifiers, have a coach who knows exactly what it takes to win, and posses the most in-form striker in world football. Is 2010 England's time to right the wrongs of the past 44 years?

England enter the tournament as one of the favourites and can be backed at [7.0] to win it, but will their over-reliance on one man be their downfall? If previous tournaments are anything to go by, England usually have the misfortune of suffering one major injury before the competition begins. They've already (barring a rapid recovery) lost Ashley Cole, and while that blow may be something they can recover from, should they lose their key attacking player and talisman Wayne Rooney, the game could be up before a ball is even kicked.

Nation: England

Also known as...
'The Three Lions'

Route to South Africa...
As straightforward as it gets. England won nine of their ten qualifying games and their one defeat came in Ukraine, when they had already qualified. What's more, the manner of their performances were equally impressive as Fabio Capello's men racked up 34 goals, the most of any teams in the qualification campaign.

World Cup Pedigree...
It is now 44 years ago that England won their one and only World Cup, when they beat Germany at Wembley in 1966. Since then, golden generation after golden generation have tried and failed to appease the baying expectation of a nation starved of success on the international stage. South Africa will be England's 12th appearance in a World Cup, and anything other than at least a repeat of their 1990 showing (when they reached the semi-final), will be looked upon as a miserable failure back home.

They'll be relying on...
Wayne Rooney, or 'Wazza', as David Beckham likes to call him. It seems strange to say it, considering the class of Capello and the experience and talent within England's ranks, yet without a firing Wayne Rooney, England are doomed. So brilliant has the United forward been this season, that the thought of England lining up without him is a frightening prospect indeed.

Something you may not have known is...
There is a faint possibility that David Beckham will equal England's all-time caps record in the World Cup Final. With Beckham currently ten caps short, and with England set to play three friendlies between now and the World Cup, should Beckham appear in each of those and then figure again in each of England's seven games including the final, he will equal the record currently held by Peter Shilton. You couldn't make it up!

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