Paraguay Relishing Clash With England's Megastars

Will he or won't he? That's the question all England fans have been asking for the past month. Will the owner of the most famous broken metatarsal in world soccer make it to take part in the biggest tournament in the game? Whether Wayne Rooney plays against Paraguay on Saturday or not, England are likely to be boosted by the return to action of their star player at sometime in the tournament -- unless they crash out at the group stage.

The Manchester United striker was called back to England's training camp in Baden Baden after an inconclusive scan on his broken foot. England officials reserved the right to overrule club concerns to bring Rooney back despite fears from his club that the bone is not completely healed. Regardless of whether the bone is healed, Rooney is unlikely to be match fit much before the knock-out rounds begin.

That leaves England coach Sven Goran Eriksson with Plan B for the game against Paraguay in Frankfurt on Saturday. The Swedish trainer would ideally field Rooney up front with Michael Owen, another recently recovered victim of the curse of the metatarsal. Without Rooney, Eriksson is expected to resort to a 4-4-2 formation with the towering Liverpool striker Peter Crouch starting with the diminutive Owen.

Behind whatever attacking strike force the Swede unleashes will undoubtedly be one of the world's most desired midfields. Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Cole are expected to be England's first choice throughout the World Cup even if Eriksson swaps to 4-1-4-1. Owen alone upfront would lead to either Owen Hargreaves or Michael Carrick playing the holding midfield role with either Gerrard or Lampard playing behind the lone striker.

The back four picks itself: Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Gary Neville; although the return to form and mental stability of Sol Campbell will put pressure on the two center-backs to perform at the top of their game.

Bayern's Hargreaves acts as spy on Santa Cruz

Eriksson is unlikely to adopt anything other than a conservative formation for the opening game, which will leave Bayern Munich's Hargreaves on the sidelines from the start. The midfielder, however, has been proving his worth both on and off the pitch, giving his defensive colleague the lowdown on Bayern team mate and Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz and his attacking partners.

"I spoke to Owen about these guys," said defender John Terry, who will have to help tame Santa Cruz in the Group B opener, if the Paraguayan is fit enough to play. "From today we're starting to concentrate on them a lot more. We'll be watching videos and finding out a lot more. The talk is that he's going to be fit and will play.".

Santa Cruz said earlier this week he is nearing full fitness despite missing much of the Bundesliga season following a knee operation, but he cut short a training session Wednesday following a half-hour workout.

The 24-year-old striker assuaged his country's fears that he had suffered a serious relapse despite his early withdrawal from the training session.

"The coach judged I ought to stop in order not to overburden the leg," he said, adding he was still "on target" to play against England. "It was the first training session I had done for some time."

Paraguay have a less than auspicious record against England, succumbing 3-0 in the 1986 finals in the second round and losing a 2002 friendly 4-0. But Santa Cruz said those results were not a form guide to Saturday.

"I played in the 2002 match and we were simply unlucky," he said.

South Americans to target Beckham and Crouch

Paraguay's training sessions this week have seen their defenders bombarded with long balls and crosses, an acknowledgement of the threat posed by the combination of Beckham's pinpoint crossing and striker Crouch's 6ft 7in height.

Paraguay's respected Uruguayan coach Anibal Ruiz admitted that his side were more worried about dealing with Crouch than his partner Owen.

"Crouch is like nothing we have ever seen, particularly in terms of his aerial threat," said Uruguayan Ruiz. "He's obviously in very good form at the moment and we will have to make sure we deal with him. Owen, we know all about, and he is a proven goal-scorer, but Crouch has shown that he can be very difficult to deal with, so we must make sure we handle him."

England will start as overwhelming favorites to get the win they crave against the tough-tackling South Americans. Yet Ruiz is happy that Paraguay are playing one of the tournament favorites in their opening match and is confident England will come unstuck if they expect an easy ride.

Paraguay relishing game with fancied England

"Straight away we are coming up against one of the favorites," Ruiz said. "It forces us to concentrate on every last detail. We want to measure ourselves against the best. We have studied England and, if they still think they are better than us, we will teach them a lesson."

Ruiz will deploy Carlos Bonet to mark David Beckham out of the action and the midfielder insisted the Real Madrid star and his compatriots hold no fears for the Latin American outsiders.

"I don't think we have to play things a special way against England," Bonet said. We know their players are very competent but they don't scare us."

Bonet added that the midfield duel would be where the outcome of the battle would be decided as he and Beckham come face to face while Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard look to make English class tell in the middle of the park.

Game plan to stifle England's creativity

Roberto Acuna, Humberto Paredes and Cristian Riveros will seek to hold the line for Paraguay while Ruiz is set to throw Bonet and Riveros into the fray in an attempt to stunt England's creativity rather than the more offensively-minded Edgar Barreto and Julio Dos Santos.

"We think we're a tough nut to crack," Bonet said. "We are up for it, we know what we are about and that is the most important thing for us. It's eleven against eleven and I have confidence in my teammates."

England (4-4-2):

1-Paul Robinson; 2-Gary Neville, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 6-John Terry, 3-Ashley Cole; 7-David Beckham, 8-Frank Lampard, 4-Steven Gerrard , 11-Joe Cole; 10-Michael Owen, 21-Peter Crouch.

Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson

Paraguay: (4-4-2):

1-Justo Villa; 4-Carlos Gamarra, 5-Julio Cesar Caceres, 21-Denis Caniza, 3-Delio Toledo; 16-Cristian Riveros, 10-Roberto Acuna, 13-Carlos Paredes, 6-Carlos Bonet; 18-Nelson Valdez, 23-Nelson Cuevas

Coach: Anibal Ruiz