Whitcomb

It surely has a nice ring to it and would be a dream come true for the plethora of England fans who have never yet witnessed the creator of the beautiful game bring home the goods.

Although England have a pretty favourable group, with Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago, and the dreaded Sweden; they will come through the group stages to the finals and then, with a bit of luck, stomp all over the opposition with verve and tenacity; if Wayne Rooney keeps his head that is.

As well as being a serious contender for the coveted Golden Boot Award, if England do indeed progress, Wayne Rooney is the key to Englands success in World Cup 2006 and the rest of the team and world know it. The guy is a physiological freak in terms of the sheer power and depth of attack in his possession and will simply rip through the best defences that any of the worlds toughest may throw his way. He already proved this in Euro 2004, Portugal, where he was a constant worry for the opposition and, of course, does so every week at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney is simply one man, though, and cannot do the job alone; he will need pace man magician Michael Owen at his very best, Beckham curling em in sweetly from the right, Frank Lampard bulldozing through the middle and Mr Sven Goran Eriksson not doing his usual trick of messing with formations and pulling off players at the wrong moment. In fact, England hasnt had such a brilliant compilation of players in years; its whether they can gel at the right time and do what the England rugby lads did in 2003.

One thing is certain though and perhaps will never change; anyone and everyone faced with England, ups their game rate by a noticeable margin. It seems that everyone wants to beat the Auld Enemy; hardly surprising beings as the country with the once largest of empires has, at one time or another, trounced on or been instrumental in shaping the modern world as we know it. It seems logical that someone would want to get their own back by beating the national football team.

Many of the England naysayers believe that the England team lacks the personality and passion to bring home the cup. Although a personality is great for the cameras, the one ingredient that is surely more important is playing the game of football and scoring goals, and with the current England line up we have the best chance since 1966. Roll on World Cup 2006