Thursday, June 15, 2006

by Rob Woollard

NUREMBERG, Germany (AFP): England will try to turn on the style as they attempt to secure their passage to the World Cup second round with victory over Trinidad and Tobago here Thursday.

England captain David Beckham acknowledged his team were well below their best during a drab opening win over Paraguay and are now determined to lay down a convincing marker against the Caribbean minnows.

"The fans are aware of how we can play and the potential we have in our team," Beckham said ahead of the Group B fixture in Nuremberg.

"We do want to perform, we do want to excite, and we want to prove to people that we can play at this level and we can perform like the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Holland or Italy.

"There's no doubt in mind that we can do it."

A win over the 'Soca Warriors' would be enough to see England into the last 16 and leave them favourites to qualify as group winners. It would also be England's eighth consecutive victory, a post-war record.

England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who revealed Wednesday he was still considering giving a shock recall to star striker Wayne Rooney, said his players were itching to atone for their lacklustre opening performance.

"I hope we can and the players want to do it as well," Eriksson said when asked if he wanted the team to lay down a marker to their rivals.

"They are very keen to play good football and get the three points. I think we will do better tomorrow than we did on Saturday."

With cooler temperatures expected in Nuremberg for a match that will kick off at 6:00 pm local time (1600 GMT), Beckham and his team-mates are aware that anything other than a win will be viewed as a disaster.

But even though Beckham admitted it would be a "huge disappointment" if England failed, he warned there would be no danger of complacency.

"We're not under-estimating them as a team but we have got a stronger team than them and we should do well and hopefully beat them.

"But this is football and the World Cup and we've seen already that teams that aren't as big as other teams can still play well and do well."

Trinidad and Tobago pulled off the first shock of the tournament in their opening match, holding Sweden to a 0-0 draw despite being reduced to 10 men.

Eriksson meanwhile was coy Wednesday over whether or not Rooney would make a shock comeback at some point in the match.

"For me Rooney is match-fit, but about that story, let me sleep on it," Eriksson told a press conference when asked if Rooney would play. "I will decide tomorrow morning."

Manchester United defender Gary Neville looks certain to miss the match however after picking up a calf strain. Eriksson said Neville was "very doubtful" and would be replaced by either Jamie Carragher or Owen Hargreaves.

Neville's absence aside, Eriksson is expected to start with the same 4-4-2 line-up that began against Paraguay, meaning that Michael Owen will get another chance to play himself into form alongside Peter Crouch.

Owen was replaced after 55 minutes in England's opener and looked desperately short of his usual sharpness as he returns from injury.

Trinidad meanwhile will go into the match looking to write another chapter in what is rapidly emerging as the fairytale story of the finals.

The islanders' Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker -- who must be the only trainer in the World Cup who bicycles to training -- has been in relaxed mood this week, allowing fans into practice sessions for team autographs.

The 63-year-old former Holland and Real Madrid coach says Trinidad showed against Sweden that his players would not be intimidated by facing England's superstar line-up -- and would be playing to win.

"The ideal result is winning the game," Beenhakker said Wednesday.

"You can't bring a team and prepare them for a draw. To compensate for our lack of talent we play with passion. We have a lot of respect for England but we're not intimidated.

Beenhakker had earlier questioned whether England are genuine title contenders, and believes they have struggled to gel as a unit.

"England have great players but they don't win tournaments and you have to ask yourself why," Eriksson said.

"It's like Real Madrid. You can have all of the stars in the world but if you cannot play as a team then the stars do not matter."

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version